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A kayaker’s leg was amputated by a rescue crew on Saturday after it got stuck in a rocky crevice on a dangerous stretch of the Australian River, reported The New York Times. The man, a foreign tourist in his 60s, was then taken to a hospital in Hobart and is currently in critical condition, said police.
The man was navigating rapids in Tasmania’s Franklin River with some friends on Friday when his leg got “wedged between rocks”. Emergency services were alerted by the man’s smartwatch at 3:30 pm the same day, leading to a “complex and protracted” rescue effort. The operation lasted 20 hours but failed to free his limb from between the rocks.
Accompanied by the medical crew, the kayaker spent the night partly submerged in the river. Multiple attempts to free his leg turned out unsuccessful due to his worsening health. After consulting with the man, the medical team staff used specialist equipment to amputate his leg, the police said.
Doug Oosterloo, the acting assistant commissioner of the Tasmania Police, said in a statement, “This rescue was an extremely challenging and technical operation. Every effort was made to extract the man before the difficult decision to amputate his leg.
Located in the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park, the 80-mile river is a popular location for rafting and kayaking. The Tasmanian Parks Department has issued a disclaimer warning of the “highly hazardous” character of the white water river systems and the frequent weather changes in the national park.
