A last jump of the day left a man suffering serious injuries from a parachute mishap at Batchelor south of Darwin today.
The 29-year-old man drifted off course as he came into land and hit a tree beside the airstrip near Litchfield National Park.
A Darwin-based army combat medic saw the accident and raced to help at about 6.30pm before nurses from the town’s health clinic arrived.
A doctor and nurse with Darwin’s CareFlight TIO Rescue Helicopter were then alerted to the man’s plight.
The CareFlight medical team praised the army medic’s quick and expert treatment to the parachutist’s shoulder and pelvic injuries.
After stabilisation the man was taken to the CareFlight TIO rescue helicopter and flown to Royal Darwin Hospital where he remained in a serious but stable condition on arrival at 7.45pm.
Earlier this afternoon a woman was rescued and flown to hospital after she fell down a cliff at Dundee Beach south-west of Darwin.
St John Ambulance paramedics called a CareFlight medical team to the 55-year-old woman’s plight shortly before 1.30 pm.
Darwin’s CareFlight TIO Rescue Helicopter doctor and nurse flew to the isolated village, landing on a reserve close to where the woman tripped on gravel, then fell two metres down the cliff onto rocks.
The fall left the woman with a fractured leg.
Locals rushed to the woman’s aid and brought her to the top as they alerted emergency services.
The woman was treated by the CareFlight medical team, then flown to Royal Darwin Hospital where she remained in a stable condition on arrival at 3pm.
