A deer hunter who rolled his quad bike near Fordell on Friday received serious injuries and was still in hospital yesterday.
The 60-year-old man was in a "satisfactory condition" yesterday afternoon, a duty nurse manager at Wanganui Hospital said. Intensive care paramedic Roger Blume said the whole rescue operation tookabout six hours due to dense pine vegetation in the area where the man rolled his quad bike and was crushed underneath.
"He rolled his quad bike in very steep terrain," Mr Blume said. The man had "serious" chest and abdominal injuries but was awake when they reached him, and was able to speak. The Taranaki Rescue Helicopter flew to the scene but was unable to winch him to safety because of the trees.
"We went in on some other farms' quad bikes," Mr Blume said. "It was about a 40-minute trip in."
Paramedics and police had to move the man to a clearing a kilometre away so he could be winched up to the helicopter and flown to Wanganui Hospital.
Helicopter pilot Stephen Beck said they were alerted to the job at 10.33pm and flew out for about an hour to where the man was trapped in a forestry block along Ohaumoko Rd.
Mr Beck said it was too dangerous for the people on the ground for them to try and winch the man out, and said branches could easily fall out of trees.
The trip to Wanganui Hospital took about seven minutes.
