A Lithuanian kayaker in his late sixties remains in hospital fighting for his life after a long ordeal on the Franklin River that ended with the amputation of his leg.
The 65-year-old was left stuck between rocks with water lapping against him for over 20 hours after slipping and trapping his leg in the remote river on Friday afternoon.
“This rescue was the worst-case scenario of worst-case scenarios,” Tasmania Police Search and Rescue Sergeant Callum Herbert said. “Aside from drowning.”
The man, an experienced rafter with over five decades of expertise, was on a tour of rivers across the globe with a group of ten from overseas when the incident occurred.
Multiple underwater attempts to free the man were made using specialist equipment, including ropes and pulleys and the ‘jaws of life’.
“These have a capacity of 50 tonne and we were not budging these rocks at all,” Surf Life Saving Tasmania’s Ace Petrie said.
“This went on for approximately about 10 to 12 hours, different scenarios that we tried to look at and see if we could get the guy untrapped.”
Despite their efforts, the man’s leg ultimately had to be amputated above the knee to free him.
Intensive care flight paramedic Mitch Parkinson said the man was “entrapped in a fairly significant torrent of water” surrounded by rocks that were “exceptionally slippery” for rescue crews.
“This was an exceptionally strong and resilient man and he maintained that throughout the night,” Parkinson said.
“Our effort … was to keep him warm as best possible, acknowledging that he is in a torrent of water, to keep him fed and watered as much as we could.”
Language barriers presented a challenge for rescuers, who had to resort to a combination of broken English and hand signals.
A Lithuanian doctor who had been rafting with the group acted as a translator.
“That was an incredible resource to us that we really didn’t expect,” Parkinson said.
“Throughout the night, with continued rescue efforts and the continuum into the morning, we did our best to convey the realities of his entrapment … and then recovery of him as a life versus limb discussion.”
Access to the remote location was only possible by helicopter, with one winch operator carrying out 37 rotations to safely extract the victim, his fellow kayakers and equipment.
The man remains in the Royal Hobart Hospital in a critical condition.
