SERIOUSLY INJURED RIDER AND RESCUERS STUNG BY SWARM OF BEES
October 6th, 2020
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
A South Mackay teenager was airlifted to hospital with suspected head and spinal injuries after a dirt bike accident, while her brother was also transported by ambulance with a serious allergic reaction after they were both swarmed by bees at Yalbaroo yesterday.
The 13-year-old girl was riding a dirt bike across the river from the Hold It Flats Campground, about 75km north-west of Mackay, about 11am when she crashed into the fence and was flung off the bike, landing near a bee hive. The rider, who was wearing correct safety equipment including a helmet, suffered head and spinal injuries as a result of the fall which was further compounded by serious stings from the bees.
Three other family members rushed to assist the injured rider following the accident and were subsequently also stung by the swarm of bees, including her 18-year-old brother who then suffered a serious allergic reaction.
RACQ CQ Rescue was tasked about 11.15am as part of the Queensland Health Aeromedical Network to fly the 133km to transfer the teenager to Mackay Base Hospital. The rescue helicopter, with a doctor, Critical Care Paramedic and rescue crewman on board, was landed in a grassy clearing directly opposite the popular Yalbaroo campground to treat the injured rider and the three people who’d been stung.
The girl was flown to Mackay Base Hospital in a stable condition and was accompanied on the flight by her mother. The RACQ CQ Rescue rescue crewman travelled back in the road ambulance with the teenage boy to Mackay Base Hospital.
RACQ CQ Rescue has already completed 464 missions this year, with every hour the helicopter is in the air on task costing the community-funded service about $10,500.
The Bell 412 rescue helicopter and crew services rural and remote communities across Central and North Queensland and is often the difference between life and death for hundreds of patients each year.
[ENDS]
RACQ CQ Rescue landed in a clearing near the Hold It Flags Campground at Yalbaroo yesterday to airlift a teenager girl injured in a dirt bike accident who was then stung by a swarm of bees
Please credit any released photos and video footage to RACQ CQ Rescue.
Please note: Full title of rescue service is RACQ CQ Rescue.
For further information please contact:
Naomi Noy
RACQ CQ Rescue
Ph: 0417 578 182