A tourist in Tasmania has had his leg amputated in the middle of a raging river after getting trapped between rocks during a kayaking trip with frifinishs.
Medics shelp they made the “life or death” decision in adviseation with the international visitor during a complicated get back on the Franklin River lasting some 20 hours.
The visitor in his 60s was partiassociate subcombined in water thcimpoliteout the ordeal, and get backrs shelp it was evident that “had he remained in the location where he was, and trapped in the rock crevice he would not have endured”.
Multiple finisheavors to transfer him prior to the amputation were unprosperous, police in the Australian island state shelp.
The tourist was kayaking with a group in the south-west of Tasmania when his leg got stuck between rocks in an area of rapids on Friday afternoon.
Ecombinency services rushed to the distant and inaccessible area after the man’s intelligentwatch called for helpance, police shelp.
After a number of unprosperous finisheavors were made to free the man overnight and as his condition deteriorated, the decision was made to amputate his leg so he could be thriveched from the location and airlifted to hospital.
“This get back was an excessively challenging and technical operation, and an incredible effort over many hours to save the man’s life,” Doug Oosterloo, acting helpant comomitioner at Tasmania Police, shelp in a statement.
‘Life and death situation’
“This was a life and death situation,” Oosterloo tbetter Australian national widecaster ABC.
The man is now in a critical condition in hospital.
Oosterloo shelp that though the kayaker was “well setd”, he wasn’t setd for spfinishing “that meaningful amount of time in a rock crevice with that temperature and the torrent of water that was he was under”.
The other 10 travellers who were kayaking with the man were being airlifted from the area and police structure to speak to them about how the accident happened, the Australian Associated Press alerted.
Oosterloo tbetter the recents agency that the tourists had stopped kayaking and were on the shore when the man slipped.
“He was scouting the area and he slipped and fell into that rock crevice,” Oosterloo shelp.
