Kiwi pilot saves lost couple stalked by crocodile in outback Queensland

Kiwi pilot Michael Adair helped rescued an Aussie couple from a remote Queensland creek. Photo / LifeFlight

On his first job in Australia, Kiwi rescue pilot Michael Adair was sent to the “middle of nowhere” to save a couple and their dogs from a hellish crocodile encounter in searing 40C heat.

Adair and Aussie co-pilot Mark Overton were flying for LifeFlight and Overton was taking Adair through his final assessments in Queensland’s Mt Isa when the urgent call came through.

The pair were dispatched over 500km north to Clarke Creek near Dorunda Station, after a couple travelling from Normanton failed to arrive at nearby Kowanyama.

The couple in their 50s were travelling with their two dogs in a 4WD when it was overcome by floodwaters on Thursday, leaving them stranded miles from civilisation.

Impassable roads meant police could not search for the pair, who had no food and were forced to drink muddy river water to survive.

But they had company.

A marauding crocodile was stalking them.

An 'SOS' sign a couple wrote in the dirt in the Gulf Country in North West Queensland, Australia, after getting stranded when their 4WD was swept away by flood waters. Photo / LifeFlight

They had the presence of mind to scrawl large SOS messages in the dirt but were losing hope when Adair and Overton finally spotted them on Saturday.

Adair said they saw the couple frantically waving as they flew overhead and emotions were high during the “pretty intense” rescue.

“These people had resigned themselves to dying and seeing the look on their faces when they saw us and realised they weren’t going to die – that’s the reason we do this.

“They said: ‘thank God you’re here, we didn’t think anyone was coming’," Adair said in a statement.

The flooded creek. Photo / LifeFlight

“The wife told us she had been hearing voices in the bush from exposure and had convinced herself that nobody was coming to help them, so she was very emotional when we hugged her.”

Overton said the couple had all their belongings in the car that was washed away and had been forced to escape out of the window when the flood hit.

“The man had to dive down to retrieve their two dogs who were limp by the time he got to them, but they were okay.

“They had a cattle dog and a rusty red mix red dog we called Bluey and Bingo,” Overton added.

The couple thought their time was up. Photo / LifeFlight

“It was a bit of a clown car trying to get six people and two dogs into a three and a half tonne helicopter, but we did it and they were pretty relieved.”

They had been attacked by bugs during their ordeal, which saw them construct a makeshift shelter out of sticks to try and keep the crocodile away and drink water from the creek which made them sick.

‘Choice’

Overton was full of praise for the efforts of his new Kiwi colleague.

“Mike is used to flying in a completely different environment and we’ve thrown him into the middle of the outback and on his first job he’s been sent to the middle of nowhere,” he said.

“The distance we had to travel to get from Mt Isa to north of Nomanton up near Kowanyama was very, very vast and just the difference between New Zealand and Australia was huge.

“He was a bit taken aback by just how big Australia can be.”

Kiwi pilot Michael Adair at the scene of the rescue of a couple stranded in remote Queensland bush. Photo / LifeFlight

“I was saying ‘choice’ a lot,” Adair said.

“I was looking down and seeing all sorts of Australian animals – kangaroos, and cattle and crocs.

“I have been in the rescue industry for five years back home in New Zealand but it was just wonderful to have that as my first experience of rescue helicopter operations in Australia.

“Not only a really technically challenging mission, but one with a perfect outcome. It was an amazing start to my Australian rescue career.”

The couple were dehydrated and were suffering from exposure. They were flown to Normanton Hospital for further treatment.