In what has been labelled a ''bad day'' for Upper Clutha police and search and rescue, a tramper was found dead after a fall near Makarora , and an injured woman was rescued from the Motatapu River.
Emergency services and paramedics from the Otago Regional Rescue Helicopter stayed on site until late last night and were treating the Middlemarch boy, who had been fading in a battle against hypothermia.
Once the the boy was freed and pulled from the water he was stabilised and flown to Dunedin Hospital in the rescue helicopter, Otago Daily Times Wanaka bureau chief Marjorie Cook said a Glacier Southern Lakes helicopter crew and two canyoners worked alongside local emergency medical staff and Wanaka doctors to assist the boy throughout the rescue and then to stabilise him.
Paramedic crew and rescuers hailed the boy's incredible fighting spirit, as concerns for his health escalated, after he spent more than three hours in the fast-flowing river chasm.
The boy was progressively losing body heat and it was a race against time to free him before his core body temperature fell too low.
There was a massive emergency response from local LandSAR volunteers and emergency services to assist the boy, as he started to fade in the cold waters of the Motatapu, she said.
The boy was pulled from the water, but concerns for his health escalated as he started to succumb to the intense cold and shock of being underwater for several hours.
The boy had fallen unconscious and efforts were made by paramedics to resuscitate and stabilise him before he was transported by helicopter to Dunedin Hospital about 10.45pm, Ms Cook said.
Senior Sergeant Allan Grindell said police were notified of the boy's predicament about 6.30pm, after initial attempts to extract him from the fast-flowing gorge by a group of about four people failed.
"It's quite an issue to get the boy's ankle out. He's been stuck there in the water for about three hours, so is no doubt very cold and distressed."
The Otago Regional Rescue Helicopter was on standby to transfer the boy to Dunedin Hospital for treatment, Snr Sgt Grindell said.
The Motatapu Gorge is a popular river swimming hole for locals and also summer campers staying at the nearby Glendhu Bay Camping Ground.
Wanaka LandSAR co-ordinator senior Constable Emma Fleming last night said the victim was winched from the narrow river chasm near Glendhu Bay, Wanaka, about 9.30pm.
About 15 members from the Wanaka LandSAR alpine cliff rescue team were involved in the rescue operation, Const Fleming said.
"He was winched out of the stream by the helicopter crew. How long he was in the water for is unsure at this stage. It's been at least three hours, given that is when we [started our operation]," Const Fleming said.
There had been several people in the "busy" Motatapu Gorge area yesterday afternoon, but details about how the boy got stuck and about initial rescue attempts by other people were not known, she said.
Phil Melchior, a Wanaka LandSAR volunteer and chairman of New Zealand LandSAR, said yesterday had been a "bad day", given the number of incidents LandSAR members had responded to.
LandSAR members had earlier been called to the Motatapu Gorge to help a woman in her 20s who dislocated her knee while jumping from rocks into the river.
She was carried on a stretcher up a steep bank to the car park near the one-lane bridge on Motatapu Rd, where she was treated by St John.
Meanwhile, a tandem skydiving instructor sustained multiple fractures after he hit the ground in a heavy parachute landing at Wanaka Airport yesterday afternoon. The man was transported by helicopter to Dunedin Hospital, Ms Cook said.
In Queenstown, a man spotted in the water while kite boarding on Lake Wakatipu set off a search and rescue operation last night, bringing the TSS Earnslaw and four other boats out on the water.
Coastguard Queenstown president Carl Porteguys said the alarm was raised at 7.57pm when someone near Queenstown's One Mile car park saw a kite surfer apparently struggling.
The person called police, who then alerted the Coastguard, with Earnslaw, both Queenstown Water Taxis, Paraflights boat and the Extreme Fishing boat joining the search.
Despite reports the man had made it to shore by himself, Coastguard waited until confirmation of his safety before it stood the search down at 8.20pm.
Mr Porteguys praised the person who raised the alarm; something the Coastguard is promoting in its "See Something, Do Something" awareness campaign.
"They definitely saw something and did something, so I'm not sure if they had seen the campaign but it was definitely the right thing to do."
