Prompt action by workmates and resort staff saved the life of a man whose leg was dragged into a tree mulching machine at a wilderness resort near Jabiru west of Darwin today.
Crew of Darwin’s CareFlight Top End rescue helicopter dodged low cloud, wind and rain from ex-tropical cyclone Nathan, landing at a waterlogged airstrip close to the wilderness resort.
The CareFlight doctor and nurse rushed to the man who had suffered severe leg injuries in a tree lopping accident beside a billabong.
The accident happened as the man worked to clear trees shortly before the cyclone crossed the coast and bore down on the area as a severe rain depression.
The crew doctor and flight nurse worked with a nurse from Jabiru Health Clinic to stabilise the man.
The CareFlight medics said only the quick action to apply a tourniquet prevented the man from bleeding to death after a rope tangled around his leg and dragged him into a tree mulching machine.
Despite his injuries the man, believed to be aged in his 30s, remained conscious as he was flown under treatment to Royal Darwin Hospital.
The man remained in a serious but stable condition on arrival at the hospital just after 4pm.
CareFlight teams were kept busy, flying to 13 patients across the Top End today.
In addition to four patients flown from Arnhem Land, CareFlight planes brought additional patients to Darwin from Nhulunbuy, Katherine and Yarralin.
One was a man whose foot was crushed while loading cattle onto a truck at a cattle station 30 km south of Katherine.
