Ambulance, SES crews come to rescue of girl on remote Surf Coast track

Emergency services swung into action late Tuesday afternoon after a girl came off her bike on a remote Surf Coast track.

File picture on an earlier rescue near Currawong Falls. Picture: Peter Ristevski.

A girl has been taken to hospital after emergency services came to her rescue following an accident in bushland near Aireys Inlet late Tuesday afternoon.

Multiple ambulance crews were assisted by eight SES volunteers from the Torquay and Lorne branches in their effort to assist the girl close to where the Currawong Falls and Loves tracks intersect, nearby Distillery Creek Rd and within the Great Otway National Park.

Ambulance and SES crews were involved in the rescue of a girl near Aireys Inlet late Tuesday afternoon. Source: Google Maps.

An SES spokesman said the girl required assistance after coming off her bike and becoming trapped just after 4.30pm.

The spokesman said the volunteers used a “mule” stretcher – a lightweight single-wheel stretcher designed to traverse rough terrain – as part of the rescue.

An Ambulance Victoria spokeswoman said crews responded to reports of an incident in Aireys Inlet just before 4.40pm.

“A school-aged girl has been taken to Geelong hospital with lower body injuries in a stable condition,” she said without elaborating on the surrounding circumstances.

Currawong Falls is located within the Great Otway National Park near Aireys Inlet. Picture: Peter Ristevski.

Both the Currawong Falls and Loves tracks are popular with bushwalkers, with the Friends of Eastern Otways group respectively rating their level of difficulty as moderate and easy to moderate.

A decade ago, Helen Shelley, aged in her 40s, was mountain bike riding alone at Currawong Falls off Loves Track, when she lost her footing and fell down an embankment.

Trapped between a tree and a rock, she phoned her husband, who alerted emergency services.

As part of a four-hour operation, it took Victoria Police, Ambulance Victoria, Parks Victoria, SES and the CFA an hour to find her, with rescue crews searching for her on foot through heavy bushland.

Ms Shelley escaped with major injury.

Originally published as Ambulance, SES crews come to rescue of girl on remote Surf Coast track