Hunter falls off cliff

Photo Greenlea Rescue Helicopter

A man is in hospital with suspected spinal and chest injuries after tumbling about 30m down a bank while hunting.

Two men had been flown into the ranges east of Taupo this morning by helicopter to go hunting. While hiking the ground beneath one of the men's feet gave way and he tumbled down near a vertical bank. His fall was broken slightly by trees before he came to a rest on a shelf.

His companion was able to make his way via a slightly different route to his injured friend.

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Taupo's Greenlea Rescue Helicopter was alerted by the Rescue Co-ordination Centre to a personal locating beacon that had been set off.

Pilot Nat Every said the man a hunting companion had been flown into the ranges by helicopter yesterday morning.

"While hiking the ground beneath one of the men's feet gave way and he tumbled down near a vertical bank around 100 feet.

"His fall was arrested slightly by trees before he came to a rest on a shelf.''

Due to the steep terrain and high trees a paramedic and LandSAR volunteer needed to be slung in on a longline to the injured man who was then flown in a stretcher to a nearby clearing before being loaded in the helicopter and flown to Hastings Hospital.

- with additional reporting from APNZ