Emergency services say a family, including a nine-year-old boy, were “very lucky” to escape serious injury or worse after getting caught in severe weather while on a day walk in Tasmania’s Central Highlands.
The Launceston locals activated a personal locator beacon around 4:30pm on Sunday after becoming “trapped” by forecast snow, heavy rain, strong winds and extreme cold in the Walls of Jerusalem National Park.
A team of police, paramedics and SES volunteers set out on foot to find the family that afternoon, as it was deemed unsafe for the rescue helicopter. They reached the family just after 2am on Monday.
“They were all very cold [and] hypothermic. The nine-year-old, as you can imagine being a smaller person, [was] obviously very cold,” Search and Rescue Sergeant Leighton Riggall said.
“That was a priority for us … getting him into some shelter and warming him up.”
The family was only equipped for a short day walk and not for an overnight stay, carrying no provisions like food with them.
“There was a strong wind warning out … it was actively snowing, it was effectively a blizzard, with a wind chill factor of sort of minus 11,” Riggall said
“Carrying a personal locator beacon and activating it as they did has undoubtedly saved their lives.”
Inspector Michael Johnston said a “catastrophic outcome” was avoided, but there were risks to the emergency services personnel who went in to help.
“The weather was fairly severe … in line with the warnings that had been issued by the Bureau in the lead-up to the weekend,” he said.
“Our people are very good at what they do. They’re well-trained and they’re well-equipped. But they’re also the type of people who, in a situation like this where there’s lives at risk, will push the boundaries.”
The family was airlifted to a waiting ambulance at Mole Creek on Tuesday morning after two nights in the wilderness and taken to the Launceston General Hospital for assessment.
Johnston said there are “no immediate concerns” for their health.
“The best equipped and the best trained and the most professional people in the world will sometimes be defeated by the weather,” he said.
“We can’t always get to people in those situations. So, yes, they’re lucky.”
