A Tasmanian helicopter rescue operation has set an Australian record by completing 57 winches in just 20 hours during an extraordinary life-saving effort that has now earned international recognition.
The mission, recently featured on Australian Story, saw multiple agencies working around the clock to save critically injured Lithuanian rafter Valdas Bieliauskas, who became trapped in the Franklin River during a white-water expedition last November.
Hobart-based helicopter rescue service Rotor-Lift last night celebrated the record-breaking feat and honoured the emergency services personnel who made it possible.
First responders and their families gathered in the Rotor-Lift hangar at Cambridge for a special live screening of the Australian Story documentary’s second episode.
“We did 57 winches over a 20-hour period. It’s an Australian record,” Managing Director Allana Corbin said.
The complex operation required unprecedented coordination between paramedics, doctors, nurses, technicians, Tasmania Police, Tasmania Fire Service and a marine search and rescue team.
Corbin said one of the most challenging parts of the rescue involved flying hydraulic cutting tools to the remote site at 1am, using night vision equipment.
“We did numerous flights in the middle of the night, which is quite extraordinary,” she said.
The rescue effort has earned one of the rescuers and the service the prestigious Lifesaver Cross award, last week presented at the Presidential Palace in Lithuania.
“The rescue was a combination of efforts of a large number of people and all of their efforts were integral to its success.”
Rotor-Lift operates with 37 staff members, including pilots, engineers and office personnel.
All, Corbin said, are dedicated to bringing emergency responders home safely after every mission.
The service has pledged to keep fighting for Tasmania’s emergency response capabilities and to stay operational for “many, many years to come”.
“If you find yourself in the middle of nowhere, no-one around, and you’re really badly hurt, and you’re terrified, and you don’t quite know how you’re going to get out of the situation that you’re in,” Corbin said.
“And then in the distance you hear a noise, and that noise gets louder and louder, and that’s a helicopter.”
“That noise, that sound, that beat becomes a part of your whole soul, and that sound will never actually leave you, it will be a comfort for the rest of your life.”
