A Royal Australian Navy crew member has been flown by helicopter from the subantarctic Auckland Islands to Dunedin Hospital after coming down with appendicitis.
The crew member was on the icebreaker Aurora Australis, which is in the subantarctic eradicating pests from Macquarie Island.
Two helicopters made the 310 nautical mile, or 573km, trip from Te Anau, in about three hours to evacuate the crew member, said Southern Lakes Helicopters owner Richard Hayes.
- NZPA