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Rescued from crocs
By Cpl Andrew Hetherington
Edition 1173, August 23, 2007 |
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Safe return: Rescued stockman David George with the B Sqn, 5 Avn Regt, Black Hawk crew that winched him to safety: Tpr Ryan Purchase, Cpl Brendon Hope, Tpr Daniel Carter and Cpl Nathan Mathews and B Coy, 2RAR, OC Maj Richard Niessl (inside the Black Hawk).
Photo by PO Andrew Pearn |
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A BLACK Hawk crew from B Sqn, 5 Avn Regt, gave a stranded Queensland stockman the ride of his life after hoisting him to safety from a crocodile-infested swamp.
David George, a stockman on a Silver Plains Cattle Station, spent seven days up a tree in the swamp after falling off his horse.
One of the pilots of the Black Hawk involved in the search, Lt Angus Watson, said he and his crew flew to the town of Coen on August 8 to join the search.
“It took us about four hours to get there, where we then dropped off our maintenance team of five tradesman and then headed over to Silver Plains, east of Coen, towards the coast,” he said.
“Elements of B Coy, 2RAR, had already started patrolling in the thick scrubland where David had gone missing.”
Lt Watson and his crew flew on a reconnaissance to find landing zones to drop the remainder of the 2RAR soldiers.
“We had been flying for about half an hour when we had heard that a heli-mustering pilot called Nick had found David in the scrub about 1600h,” Lt Watson said.
“When we arrived the heli-mustering chopper was in a low hover over David, so we came in behind him and assessed the area.”
The loadmasters then made a decision to use the hoist to lift him to safety.
“There was no where to land in the area. When we found him he was on the ground waving,” Lt Watson said.
After the Black Hawk was in position, loadmaster Tpr Daniel Carter lowered 2RAR medic Cpl Brendon Hope and wireman Tpr Ryan Purchase – who was carrying a loaded Steyr in case of a crocodile attack.
“He was in swampland on a mound of grass and dirt to keep him out of the water. He looked a bit shabby, he had a hard week,” Tpr Carter said.
“Cpl Hope took his blood pressure and checked him over to make sure he was OK to be hoisted and then put the slings on him and I lifted him up with the wireman.”
Once a very happy Mr George had been given a seat in the Black Hawk he made a request for the crew to retrieve something he had left on the ground.
“He asked us to go down and pick up his horse saddle. He wouldn’t go without it,” Tpr Carter said.
“We gave him a bottle of water and then asked the medic if he was OK to have something to eat, so we gave him a Cherry Ripe. He was happy to get that.”
After retrieving the saddle, the soldiers flew Mr George to the Coen Medical Centre for further treatment.
Tpr Carter said it wasn’t until later in the evening the Black Hawk crew had a chance to speak to him.
“He was thankful for us coming to get him and told us how he got stranded. He said he was back-burning on the property and he had fallen off his horse,” he said.
“Every time he walked through the grass he kept running into croc nests, so he decided it was safer to climb up a tree and stay where he could be found rather than walking out.”
Tpr Carter said he saw crocodiles during the search, but did not see any near the spot where they rescued Mr George.
“He said he thought there were crocs about five feet from where he was up the tree,” he said.
“He also said he was able to get a drink of water twice a day when he climbed down from the tree and went to a running stream next to the swamp.”
Lt Watson said the flight to where they picked up Mr George, the hoisting operation and the flight back to the Coen medical facility took an hour in total.
“He was a good bloke and was very appreciative,” he said. |
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