Failure to reach injured man

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33121, 11 January 1973, Page 1

Failure to reach injured man

(From Our Own Reporter)

TLMARU, January 10,

An R.N.Z.A.F. Iroquois helicopter, with a doctor aboad, failed to reach an injured shooter waiting for assistance at the Brodrick Hut, in the Upper Huxley Gorge, above Lake Ohau.

The helicopter had taken. off from Christchurch about! 3.30 p.m. for the Brodrick j Hut, where the shooter, ( James Alfred Colenso, aged ( 33, of Twizel. who badly ( (gashed a leg when he stum-1 I bled on rocks on Monday,! was waiting. ' The helicopter met high I (winds after leaving Twizel,! 'where Dr P. W. Law had! been picked up, and had to .land. When the wind did not] (abate before nightfall, the! .helicopter was forced to landi (at Mount Cook for the night. ( I Weather permitting, the i .helicopter is expected to take. I off for the area again at day- I I break tomorrow. In the meantime, ground parties I: (have been organised to back, (up the evacuation of Mr I 'Colenso. T

■ Constable N. L. Dickie, of (Twizel, said this evening that (Mr Colenso was with a party of four when the accident (occurred early on Monday afternoon. He was able to i walk, but with extreme difli culty. A companion helped i him to the Brodrick Hut. a 'short distance from the scene of the accident. i Mr Colenso’s leg had (stiffened on Monday night—'but it was not until today (that Mr B. Roberts, also of (Twizel, one of the injured Iman's companions, had (tramped for four to five (hours to where the party had (left a utility vehicle in the I Huxley riverbed, about 30 miles from Twizel, and had I driven to Twizel to inform (the police.