Tourist fights for life after 20-hour river rescue and amputation

After a challenging 20-hour rescue mission, a 69-year-old man remains in critical condition after falling from his kayak in Tasmania river rapids.

Mitch Parkinson, an intensive care flight paramedic with Ambulance Tasmania said, “Amputation was the absolute last resort”.

First responders amputated the man’s leg above the knee when they started fearing for his condition and were running out of options.

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Responders tried ropes to pull him, jaws of life and hydraulic tools to mine the rocks around him.

Constable Callum Herbert from Tasmania police said, “This rescue was the worst case scenario of the worst case scenario.”

“He could not be physically removed and every available angle to try and manipulate him out, and every resource possible was used before the amputation,” Herbert said.

The man from Lithuania was travelling with 11 tourists on a rafting trip. He has almost 50 years of experience in white water rafting.

He was airlifted to Royal Hobart hospital where he remains in a critical condition.

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