Media Updates | Ambulance New Zealand

Winch not at fault when paramedic was killed, inquiry finds (The Sydney Morning Herald Feb 2012)

NEITHER the helicopter nor the winch involved in a fatal rescue mission on Christmas Eve was to blame for the death of the paramedic Mick Wilson.

But the transport safety bureau's investigation has now moved to examine the conduct, experience level and processes used by all rescue workers involved in the accident.

Mr Wilson, 42, died after an attempt to rescue two canyoners from Carrington Falls, south of Wollongong. He was one of two specialist paramedics and a doctor on the ambulance helicopter responding to an emergency locator beacon set off in the rugged terrain just before 5pm on Saturday, December 24.

A Chatswood man had triggered the beacon after a friend, an overseas visitor, had fallen while canyoning.

It is understood that with the injured canyoner strapped to him, Mr Wilson stepped off a cliff and swung into the ravine so the pair could be winched up into the helicopter.

But they crashed into a cliff face opposite and fell some distance, Mr Wilson being pinned between his patient and a rock wall.

Both men had to be lowered to the ravine floor, police said, where the helicopter team was forced to cut the winch line. It is understood that was done because Mr Wilson was unable to free himself from the wire.

He died soon after from internal injuries.

Yesterday, the safety bureau released a preliminary update to their investigation, having conducted ''a number of interviews with the involved crew and canyoners'' in the days following the accident.

''The investigation has established that there was no anomaly with the helicopter or its winch with the potential to have contributed to the accident,'' the statement said.

''In addition, it has been determined that the winch cable was manually severed by the crew following the accident. That action was taken in order for the helicopter to depart the accident site and return to its base.''

Investigators had also recovered the helicopter's flight data and cockpit voice recorders, or ''black boxes'', and downloaded the crucial moments.

The bureau's investigation is continuing and will ''examine the planning and conduct of the winching operation, together with the qualifications and experience of the involved personnel and the operator's policy and procedures''.

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