RESCUE
I
T’S NOT UNCOMMON TO seek out adventure. If anything, danger is half of the attraction.
And when you see video clips of other people’s adventures on social media, it might make you think, ‘I should do that; it looks like fun!’ But, unfortunately, viral videos on Instagram only tell half the story. You see a guy jump from a crane 20m above the ocean, come up to the surface and shout to his friends that he did it… You don’t see the rescue services being activated or him being secured in a Kendrick extrication device with a suspected spinal injury – in fact, three cracked vertebrae, as later confirmed by an X-ray.
You don’t know that, just the week before, a female had fractured her femur in two places at the same site. Luckily it wasn’t a compound fracture and no bones protruded from the skin. Miraculously none of her arteries were severed – if they had been, she might have succumbed to her injuries before rescue services could get to her. She stoically managed excruciating pain as the rescuers splinted her leg and assisted her safely to the waiting Sea Rescue vessels. The boats can’t get close to the rocks because of a mass of twisted rusted metal from the wreck that sits just below the surface. The swell
DANGER ZONE
It can take rescuers up to 20 minutes to get to the Bos 400 wreck, as there is no land access for vehicles.
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SEA RESCUE AUTUMN 2021
PHOTOGRAPHS: CRAIGMCIVER, SPENCER OLDHAM
Sea Rescue crew were called out to the Bos 400 wreck three times in under a month to assist casualties who had injured themselves. We cannot urge the public enough to stay away from this area. It’s life threatening for all concerned. Cherelle Leong tells us why.
