http://immortaloutdoors.com/articles/december_24_injury_and_fatality_of_paramedic_carrington_falls
December 24, Injury and Fatality of Paramedic, Carrington Falls Articles
December 24, Injury and Fatality of Paramedic, Carrington Falls
A party activated their PLB at 5pm on the 24th of December 2011 after one member of the party suffered an injury near Carrington Falls, west of Kiama. During the attempted rescue an incident occured and one of the paramedics involved in the rescue, was tragically killed while still on the end of the winch cable. The Initial Accident
At this stage, the precise details of the original accident are still largely unknown. The media coverage has focussed on the tragic death during the rescue procedure, and the canyoners involved are still not prepared to discuss the event. As soon as more details are available, this section will be updated.
What is currently known is that the canyoning party consisted of a local Chatswood man taking an American friend through the canyon. An accident seems to have occured during an abseil down the falls (Carrington falls themselves?) and the american canyoner suffered a serious pelvic injury. Accordingly, the Chatswood man used his Personal Locator Beacon to attract help at about 5pm. The Rescue Accident
Rescue was attempted by winching the two canyoners out of the canyon. The chatswood man was lifted out first without incident. The paramedic (Mick Wilson) then returned to lift out the injured canyoner who was on a stretcher. It appears that Mr Wilson and the stretchered canyoner were positioned on a ledge near the waterfall, and in order to be winched out, Mr Wilson had to step off the ledge on to the cable. In doing so, something went wrong and he and the canyoner swung out and in to an opposite wall of the canyon, with Mr Wilson being crushed between the wall of the canyon and the stretcher. Mr Wilson suffered significant internal injury from this, and the helicopter was forced to lower him and the injured canyon back to the canyon floor. Mr Wilson was unable to free himself from the cable, so the team in the helicopter were forced to cut the fable free.
A team went in on foot and stayed with the injured canyoner overnight, but Mr Wilson had already passed away. The next morning another air lift was completed, and the Mr Wilson’s body was lifted out along with the injured canyoner. Editorial Comments, Thoughts and Lessons
While details are still coming to light about the exact circumstances of this tragedy, not much can be said – however this serves as a very important reminder of the danger that rescue crews expose themselves to every time they are needed to provide assistance. No one who engages in outdoor activities should ever forget this risk, and should always be extremely conscious of how important the service of these men and women are to ensure our safety, all done while they endanger their own.
I know the thoughts of every canyoner in Sydney, and emergency services member is with the rescuer’s Family. Media Coverage
A sample of articles is listed below, but the media coverage for this event is very extensive. Many more articles can easily be found.
January 3
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/more-news/paramedics-gather-to-farewell-colleaue-mick-wilson-killed-during-a-christmas-eve-canyoning-rescue/story-fn7x8me2-1226235489096 http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/paramedic-mick-wilson-died-a-hero-wife-20120103-1pip0.html
December 26
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/paramedic-swung-into-ravine-and-to-his-death-20111225-1p9lb.html http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/8394914/paramedic-died-after-swinging-into-ravine
December 25
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-12-25/paramedic-dies-in-canyoning-rescue-attempt/3746868 http://www.skynews.com.au/national/article.aspx?id=700426&vId= http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/8394823/nsw-paramedic-dies-rescuing-canyoner
Jules
It’s still not clear (or been made public yet) exactly what went wrong. But it would appear that the safety of the helicopter was compromised when the winch line somehow became jammed so had to be cut with the rescuer still attached. Very sad, and I know very hard for the canyoneers involved to deal with since.
Julie
— In Yahoo Canyons Group, “RAM” wrote:
http://immortaloutdoors.com/articles/december_24_injury_and_fatality_of_paramedic_carrington_falls
December 24, Injury and Fatality of Paramedic, Carrington Falls > Articles
> December 24, Injury and Fatality of Paramedic, Carrington Falls
A party activated their PLB at 5pm on the 24th of December 2011 after one member of the party suffered an injury near Carrington Falls, west of Kiama. During the attempted rescue an incident occured and one of the paramedics involved in the rescue, was tragically killed while still on the end of the winch cable. > The Initial Accident
At this stage, the precise details of the original accident are still largely unknown. The media coverage has focussed on the tragic death during the rescue procedure, and the canyoners involved are still not prepared to discuss the event. As soon as more details are available, this section will be updated.
What is currently known is that the canyoning party consisted of a local Chatswood man taking an American friend through the canyon. An accident seems to have occured during an abseil down the falls (Carrington falls themselves?) and the american canyoner suffered a serious pelvic injury. Accordingly, the Chatswood man used his Personal Locator Beacon to attract help at about 5pm. > The Rescue Accident
Rescue was attempted by winching the two canyoners out of the canyon. The chatswood man was lifted out first without incident. The paramedic (Mick Wilson) then returned to lift out the injured canyoner who was on a stretcher. It appears that Mr Wilson and the stretchered canyoner were positioned on a ledge near the waterfall, and in order to be winched out, Mr Wilson had to step off the ledge on to the cable. In doing so, something went wrong and he and the canyoner swung out and in to an opposite wall of the canyon, with Mr Wilson being crushed between the wall of the canyon and the stretcher. Mr Wilson suffered significant internal injury from this, and the helicopter was forced to lower him and the injured canyon back to the canyon floor. Mr Wilson was unable to free himself from the cable, so the team in the helicopter were forced to cut the fable free.
A team went in on foot and stayed with the injured canyoner overnight, but Mr Wilson had already passed away. The next morning another air lift was completed, and the Mr Wilson’s body was lifted out along with the injured canyoner. > Editorial Comments, Thoughts and Lessons
While details are still coming to light about the exact circumstances of this tragedy, not much can be said – however this serves as a very important reminder of the danger that rescue crews expose themselves to every time they are needed to provide assistance. No one who engages in outdoor activities should ever forget this risk, and should always be extremely conscious of how important the service of these men and women are to ensure our safety, all done while they endanger their own.
I know the thoughts of every canyoner in Sydney, and emergency services member is with the rescuer’s Family. > Media Coverage
A sample of articles is listed below, but the media coverage for this event is very extensive. Many more articles can easily be found.
January 3
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/more-news/paramedics-gather-to-farewell-colleaue-mick-wilson-killed-during-a-christmas-eve-canyoning-rescue/story-fn7x8me2-1226235489096
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/paramedic-mick-wilson-died-a-hero-wife-20120103-1pip0.html
> December 26
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/paramedic-swung-into-ravine-and-to-his-death-20111225-1p9lb.html
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/8394914/paramedic-died-after-swinging-into-ravine
> December 25
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-12-25/paramedic-dies-in-canyoning-rescue-attempt/3746868
http://www.skynews.com.au/national/article.aspx?id=700426&vId=
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/8394823/nsw-paramedic-dies-rescuing-canyoner
RAM
Very sad
http://www.ambulance.nsw.gov.au/Community-Info/Mick-Wilson-family-appeal.html