Busy day for rescue chopper

FILE

It was a busy day for Rotorua's BayTrust Rescue Helicopter, with rescue missions to the Mamaku Forest and Waihau Bay.

This morning the helicopter was undertaking a training exercise with the New Zealand Fire Service, when it was called to Waihau Bay to help a local 2-year-old boy who was having breathing difficulties.

Local medical teams stabilised the boy and he was picked up from the local emergency centre by the helicopter.

He was then flown to Whakatane Hospital for further treatment. The helicopter was used due to the remote location and the urgency to get the boy to hospital.

Later in the afternoon, the helicopter was requested by NZ Police Search and Rescue to pick up a 65-year-old woman who had fallen in the Mamaku Forest and fractured her leg.

Because of the remote location the Southern Trust rescue hoist was used to winch the woman to safety. She was flown to Rotorua Hospital for further treatment.