Woman airlifted from K’gari after breaking arm while swimming off the island

A retired doctor helped keen her injured daughter safe while she waited for the chopper to find them on K’gari after the woman was overpowered in the surf and injured on Tuesday.

A woman in her 40s was airlifted from the Fraser Coast island of K'gari after breaking her arm while swimming. Image credit: RACQ LifeFlight.

The Bundaberg based RACQ LifeFlight helicopter crew was tasked to the Fraser Coast island of K’gari for the second time in two days after a woman broke her arm while swimming on Tuesday morning.

The rescue crew airlifted a woman in her 40s after she was reportedly overpowered by a wave while swimming, taking a tumble in the surf and breaking her arm.

Thanks the timing of the low tide, the chopper was able to land on wet sand close to the western beachside campground the woman and her family were staying at.

“Her mother, a retired doctor, was camping with her daughter and provided support until the LifeFlight aeromedical team arrived,” a LifeFlight spokeswoman said.

“The family had placed their canoes on the beach so the LifeFlight rescue team could easily find them.”

The woman was given pain relief before being flown to the Hervey Bay Hospital in a stable condition.

A man was airlifted from K'gari after being bitten by a snake on the island. Image credit: RACQ LifeFlight.

“It is the second time the Bundy crew had attended the island to airlift a patient in two days,” a spokeswoman said.

“Yesterday a man was airlifted after being bitten by a snake.”

The rescues are just a small part of the ongoing work completed by the lifesaving crew, who service the entire Wide Bay-Burnett region and beyond.