A man rolled a quad bike while exiting a gully on private farmland on Sunday. PHOTO/SUPPLIED
ALEYNA MARTINEZ
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A man who rolled his quad bike 60 metres down a bank at Otahome near Riversdale on Sunday afternoon was lifted out of the gully by helicopter so ambulance staff could prepare him to be flown to Palmerston North Hospital.
Castlepoint Voluntary Rural Fire Force chief Anders Crofoot said the helicopter pilot showed great skill to drop one of the paramedics off and then load in the patient from the bottom of the gully.
The operation was “fairly impressive”, Crofoot said.
Masterton Fire and Emergency spokesman Richard King said two Masterton appliances, one four-wheel drive, and an appliance from Castlepoint attended the rescue.
King said they had set up for a line rescue but in the end did not need it.
“What we did was use the helicopter to hover down the bank while we loaded the patient into the helicopter.
“The helicopter then took off again and landed on top where we stabilised the patient.”
The man was then flown to Palmerston North Hospital by the Hawke’s Bay Rescue Helicopter.
“I suspect he was coming up out of a gully [when he lost control of the quad bike] because he was down the bottom of the gully,” Crofoot said.
When emergency services arrived “there were already people from the community there with him”.
The incident happened on private farm land.
Acting Senior Sergeant Shayne Nolan said Masterton police were handing over the incident to WorkSafe.
The man was in a stable condition on Monday.
