Tamborine Mountain emergency services played a crucial role in the recent rescue of four hikers stuck on the edge of a cliff.
The team of roughly 40 emergency services personnel including police, ambulance, Fire and Rescue and the Rural Fire Service, as well as a specialist technical rescue team from Nerang and the Air Rescue 500 chopper navigated extremely hazardous conditions to carry out the rescue.
“It was a very challenging rescue. It was one of the hardest I’ve been involved in due to the time of day, number of people, their location and the bushland and terrain,” said Captain James Croak of Tamborine Mountain Fire and Rescue.
“We could have walked off the cliff and not known,” he said.
The team were first alerted to the emergency at 5.30pm on the Saturday night, however, after finally locating the group using drone footage the Air Rescue chopper made the decision to halt the rescue at about midnight.
The two men and two women, one of whom had been knocked unconscious by a falling rock, spent the night huddled beside a tree on precarious shale cliff. One of the women had tied herself to the tree to prevent slipping.
The four had gone for a day hiking trip in Guanaba gorge and became disorientated. Their GPS then took them on the wrong track and they became stuck as darkness set in.
James said they were well prepared with the right equipment, including ropes and an emergency app on their phones, giving emergency services a location within 50 metres.
He said the bushland was incredibly dense and they spent hours trying to find a way to the group, which involved cutting through bush and exploring access options from a property on Carey Parade.
“We had a really good go. The grass and bushland was up to our hips and we were trying to cut through the dense bushland,” he said.
“It was very stressful and emotional for the people; physically and mentally draining.”
“One woman was injured by a falling rock that hit her in the back of her head. She was triaged over the phone by ambulance,” he said.
The rescue resumed at 7am, setting up base at Long Road Sports Grounds.
The first person was winched out by 8.30am and the last two by 10:30am.
“They were in good spirits, but very emotional when they landed back at the Sports Grounds. A tree branch fell on the other lady’s leg during the rescue. The one with the head injury was taken to Gold Coast University Hospital,” James said.
