Busy weekend for helicopter rescues in Auckland and Palmerston North

There's never a dull day for rescue helicopters.

This weekend rescue crews were called out to everything from boat and hiking accidents to a car crash and a man who sliced his thumb off while log-splitting.

Auckland Westpac Rescue Helicopters had seven callouts on Friday and six callouts yesterday.

Yesterday a woman hurt her spine after the boat she was sitting on went over a large wave and caused her to bounce up and land heavily. A paramedic waded into the water in Fletcher Bay on Cape Colville and on to the boat to assess and treat her.

With the help of a Department of Conservation ranger and campers, the patient was moved on to a stretcher from the boat to shore. The crew then flew her to Auckland City Hospital in a moderate condition.

The rescue crew picked up a woman who had fallen and fractured her leg on Waiheke Island on Friday. A paramedic walked up a narrow slippery track to where she lay before she was winched to the beach and put on a stretcher. She was flown to Auckland City Hospital in a moderate condition.

The Palmerston North Rescue Helicopter flew a Palmerston North man in his 60s to Hutt Valley Hospital for urgent specialist surgery to save his amputated thumb. He had suffered a serious hand injury whilst log-splitting at home.

Today the Palmerston North crew had an early morning mission to where a local youth had been thrown from a car when it rolled on SH3. The patient was airlifted, with life-threatening injuries, to the Wellington Hospital rooftop for specialist emergency treatment.