Fall survivor 'very lucky'

The Queenstown man who fell 30-40m from a rocky outcrop on the Pisa Range, near Cardrona, at 1.30am on Sunday was ''seriously lucky'' to survive, according to Wanaka Senior constable Ian Henderson.

The man, aged 32, was one of a group of about 10 men celebrating the impending wedding of a member of the group.

He is in Dunedin Hospital with broken ribs and internal injuries.

A member of the party gave Wanaka police a statement on Tuesday night and Snr Const Henderson said they now knew it was a ''freak accident''.

''It wasn't drunken stupidity.''

Snr Const Henderson said members of the group had spent the day bungy jumping, parachuting, jet boating and mountain biking and were staying in the Meadow Flat hut on the Pisa Range Snow Farm.

They climbed a rocky outcrop near the hut and the man who fell was ''just unlucky enough to slip on some tussock and slip over the side''.

''He lost his footing and before they could grab him, he was over the side,'' Snr Const Henderson said.

''It was purely quite accidental and unfortunate. We now know they weren't fooling around or anything.

''It could have been a hell of a lot worse, looking at the photos from where he fell.''

The man hit a ''tussocky ledge'' half way down the outcrop and then dropped down on to another tussock ledge.

''So he's sort of just gone bounce, bounce - fortunately on some soft stuff.''

The man was taken to Dunedin Hospital by Otago Rescue Helicopter and Snr Const Henderson understood he was making a ''reasonable recovery''.

''So he's one very lucky guy.''

mark.price@odt.co.nz

Add a Comment

 

Advertisement