Two men critically injured in a forestry accident had been hauling a big log up a deep gully before it suddenly turned on them, striking one man in the head.
The Waikato and Auckland rescue helicopters were called to a forestry site in the hills behind Whangapoua Beach, at the top of the Coromandel Peninsula, about 2.30pm yesterday.
The Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust said the men, in their early 20s, were in a deep gully. Both had suffered major trauma injuries and were in critical conditions.
"It appears they were hauling a big log up the gully and it suddenly turned on them, throwing one guy quite a distance and hitting the other in the head," crew chief Herby Barnes said.
The Auckland rescue helicopter landed at the site to allow medics to prepare the patients for winch extracts.
The crew then winched the first patient out on a stretcher and loaded him into the Waikato rescue helicopter, which airlifted him to Waikato Hospital.
The Auckland helicopter then returned to winch the second patient out before transporting him to the same hospital.
NZME.
