Four injured, one critically, after truck crash north of Levin
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SunLive - Celebrating your community rescue helicopter
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Crewman Neil Chappell works the winch in the chopper, as well as assisting the paramedic. Chappell, coming from an Air Force background, said the medical emergencies the team were called to had taken him by surprise. “There s been so many times where I’ve read the pager and thought, how can that happen? “[But] every human is so vital on the job and that’s really rewarding.” Rural emergencies are the crew’s bread and butter. Whether it’s a tractor pinning a farmer in the sticks, a tramper lost in the Tararua Ranges, a serious crash on the region’s state highways, or a stroke victim on the back blocks of Taranaki, they rush to them all.
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Coastguard volunteer Ethan Rigby stands in the boat three men clung to as they waited to be saved. Manawatū Coastguard president Eddie Bambury and his volunteers leapt into action, taking their jet ski into the water to search for the men. The Palmerston North Rescue Helicopter and police were also called to help with the rescue. Bambury, who skippered the coastguard’s boat, said the men were found gripping the edge of their boat, about 2 kilometres off the edge of the sandbar, cold and glad to see help had arrived. “They’d been clinging to the boat for over and hour,” he said.