Injured tramper rescued while attempting the Te Araroa Trail in Northland

A rescue helicopter was dispatched to a site on the Te Araroa Trail in the Puketi Forest in Northland, near Kerikeri, where one tramper was winched to safety.

A distressed tramper was airlifted to safety after he injured himself while walking up the Te Araroa Trail and exploring the dense Puketi Forest in Northland.

On Wednesday, a rescue helicopter was dispatched after Maritime New Zealand’s Rescue Co-ordination Centre received a distress signal from an Australian-registered personal locator beacon at 11.05am.

Northland Rescue Chopper winch operator and critical care paramedic Andrew Fergusson recalled being tasked to join his three crew members and find the tramper whose communications had broken down shortly after sending the alert.

“It was sort of going into an unknown situation,” he said.

Fergusson commended the person for being geared up and having the beacon, which delivered the precise GPS co-ordinates of his location.

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With effective teamwork and critical thinking, his team was able to find the tramper at the site by 12.15pm and winch him up.

“He seemed to have injured the lower section of his right leg and was in pain. But he seemed relieved and grateful enough to us for helping him out.”

En route to Whangārei Hospital, the tramper shared with his rescuers on board that he was a Kiwi who lived in Australia and had come back home to challenge himself on the well-known Te Araroa Trail.

However, during his exploration, he’d had a fall along the muddy tracks in the forest.

Fergusson said this rescue was his third this month and the second one in connection with the trail.

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“This season is that time of the year when Kiwis and people from overseas love to go out for tramping, especially this route, which gets busier.

“So, my advice for all trampers would be to keep themselves geared up with such locators which, in a pinch, become life-savers.”

Avneesh Vincent is the crime and emergency services reporter at the Advocate. He was previously at the Gisborne Herald as the arts and environment reporter and is passionate about covering stories that can make a difference. He joined NZME in July 2023.