Rescue team airlifts woman impaled on a garden stake

The woman was flown to the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital (not pictured). Photo: Generic LifeFlight image.

The Sunshine Coast-based RACQ LifeFlight Rescue helicopter crew has airlifted an elderly woman to hospital, after she was impaled through the neck on a garden stake.

The woman, aged in her 80s, was gardening on Tuesday 21 November at a property in the Fraser Coast region, when she fell onto the tool.

Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS) paramedics drove her to hospital, where doctors were unable to safely remove the long metal bar protruding from her neck.

“The metal garden stake was about 150cm long and sticking out of her neck until the hospital medical team cut it back to about 15cm to make it easier to manage her treatment and transfer,” RACQ LifeFlight Aircrew Officer Scott Reeman said.

The rescue helicopter was tasked to airlift the woman at around 8pm.

She was flown to the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital in a stable condition for further treatment.