Tasmanian emergency crews have been recognised with a national award for saving a kayaker whose leg was amputated underwater during 24 hours trapped in the Franklin River.
Ambulance Tasmania received the Professional Award at the National Search and Rescue Awards in Brisbane on Thursday night for the 2024 rescue of 65-year-old Lithuanian rafter Valdas Bieliauskas.
The complex operation, involving more than 19 specialist rescuers, is thought to have made Australian medical history by becoming the first time a patient had been airlifted to hospital while intubated and receiving mechanical CPR.
The location was so remote that an AMSA Challenger aircraft had to circle overhead just to provide communication signals between crews on the ground.
Four paramedics – Chris Monaghan, Edith Wirsu, Mitchell Parkinson and Adam Marmion – travelled to Brisbane to collect the award on behalf of their teams.
Tasmania Police, Surf Life Saving Tasmania and Rotor-Lift also shared in the honour.
Bieliauskas later met his rescuers in hospital before flying home to Lithuania.
“I congratulate everyone, including from other agencies, for receiving this well-deserved recognition and thank them once again for their honourable efforts,” Health Minister Bridget Archer said.
“I also wish to acknowledge the staff at Royal Hobart Hospital for the care and treatment they provided to help Mr Bieliauskas recover.”
The ceremony also commended Ambulance Tasmania for its role in a separate rescue at the Walls of Jerusalem in July 2024.
In that mission, a family with a nine-year-old boy became hypothermic after being caught in blizzard conditions.
Crews endured a gruelling four-to-five-hour hike through snow to reach the stranded group at 2am.
When they arrived, the boy’s core temperature had fallen to 30 degrees and he was becoming increasingly unresponsive.
Rescue teams stayed with the family for 36 hours in temperatures that felt as low as -11 degrees, waiting for the weather to clear.
“This was an incredibly challenging rescue in difficult and deteriorating weather and I commend the crews for their skill and endurance during the incident,” Archer said.
