By JONATHON HOWARD
A HARROWING cliff rescue was carried out by RACQ CareFlight helicopter crews at Rainbow Bay over the long weekend.
The helicopter crew was called to rescue a striken paraglider who crash landed at Rainbow Bay on Saturday 4 October.
The rescue crew was called to the cliffs of Carlo Sand Blow near Rainbow Beach where the paraglider was caught on a small ledge 30 metres above the beach.
The QFRS secured the injured paraglider with ropes from the top of the cliff before the helicopter crew winched their Intensive Care Flight paramedic down to the patient.
Once with the paraglider he was treated for serious leg and chest injuries.
The 46-year-old patient from Brisbane was winched into the aircraft and was flown to Nambour Hospital in a stable condition.
Previously on Friday 3 October, the CareFlight RACQ Rescue helicopter was called to locate and assist the Queensland Police Service (QPS) and Coast Guard in a search for a stricken vessel near Inskip Point, Fraser Island.
A man on board the sinking vessel let out a distress signal at around 9.30am and CareFlight was tasked to help.
The helicopter performed an aerial search for the missing man and located the stricken vessel which was then towed back to shore by Tin Can Bay’s Coast Guard.
Thankfully, the man was unhurt, so did not require transportation to hospital.
The helicopter and crew returned to base.
