Far North SES crews rescue woman in 50s from Nandroya Falls walking track

Twenty-two Far North SES volunteers rescued an injured woman who fell during a hiking trip from a slippery and steep remote track that could not be accessed by helicopter. PHOTOS

TWENTY-TWO Far North SES volunteers “dropped everything” to assist a woman who broke a leg on narrow and remote walking track.

Queensland Ambulance Service and fire and rescue crews were called to Nandroya Falls walking track, near Millaa Millaa on Saturday, after a woman in 50s had fallen while hiking.

Her teenage son had run back to the Palmerston Hwy to make the call to emergency services, who realised the density of the Wooroonooran National Park’s canopy coverage wouldn’t allow the use of the Rescue510 helicopter.

Enter 22 SES volunteers who responded from Atherton, Herberton, Innisfail, Gordonvale and Edmonton for the two-hour rescue which was “at times steep, slippery and difficult terrain to traverse.”

SES Far North area controller James Gegg said the major challenge was managing workload for volunteers and maintaining patient comfort.

“She was about 2.5km from the car park, but what made it difficult was that it was a winding track with loose rocks, and it was very narrow. There was even a few creek crossings involved,” Mr Gegg said.

“Because of how narrow it was, we could only have about four people on the stretcher at one time. It was fairly labour intensive so we had to keep alternating people.

“But we had to do it with the patient’s comfort in mind because she did have an injury, we couldn’t just go charging out of there. She definitely wasn’t going to make her own way out with her injury.”

Mr Gegg said he was proud of his crews - unpaid volunteers - who “dropped everything” on their weekend to help perform the rescue.

A QAS spokeswoman said the woman was in a stable condition and transported to Atherton Hospital.

Originally published as Far North SES crews rescue woman in 50s from Nandroya Falls walking track