LifeFlight tracks man dozens of kilometres through North Queensland floods after car becomes bogged
A man survived a treacherous 40km trek through knee-deep flood mud before a remarkably lucky rescue.
The Mount Isa-based LifeFlight aeromedical team was on Monday morning tasked with locating a man stranded about 140km south of Hughenden, Central Queensland, after his car became bogged overnight on Saturday.
WACTH THE VIDEO ABOVE: LifeFlight rescues men stranded in Qld floodwaters
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The man in his 40s had set out on his journey from Toowoomba up to Hughenden.
“(He) had gone down this road that was essentially quite damaged from the floods and the amount of rain that this area’s received,” LifeFlight pilot Andrew Caldwell said.
“We got to the first two coordinates of where he was last reported.
“Unfortunately, there was absolutely no sign [of him].
“The road was very much deserted. It was closed in both directions.”
The crew was able to locate the vehicle, but no one was inside.
“We actually were able to find about four-and-a-half kilometres south of our initial search location, his vehicle was stuck in the road,” Caldwell said.
“It looked like he appeared to try to do a U-turn, and during the course of that U-turn, got well and truly bogged.”
The LifeFlight crew spotted footprints and started tracking the man.
“Luckily, when we did get down low, we spotted foot tracks,” Caldwell said.
“The whole area is completely saturated and the black soil in the area is just thick, heavy mud — sort of ankle to almost knee-deep in some places, so we could see these beautiful footprints just walking southbound along the track.
“He must have been carrying at least two, three kilograms of mud on each foot for a while, because there’s these beautiful footprints going all the way down south.
“We knew that this individual was by themselves, there was only one set of foot tracks.
“They were obviously keeping to the road, which was a great decision. “
Faced with dwindling fuel, the crew had to decide whether to keep searching or turn back to Hughenden.
“We’re getting to that point where we’re getting very low on fuel, it’s getting towards the end of the day,” Caldwell recalled.
“Luckily the crew spotted what looked to be a star picket sort of four or five kilometres down the road.
They had found the man roughly 38km from his vehicle — dehydrated, but otherwise well.
“The gentleman had his phone, but it looked flat,” Caldwell said.
“He had no shoes, no water, no food. He just looked absolutely exhausted.
“You could tell on his face that he was sick of walking.”
He was airlifted to Hughenden Airport, where Queensland Police officers took him to the local hospital for further care.
The LifeFlight helicopter also flew a second mission about 70km south of Hughenden to rescue two men whose ute had become bogged in the floods.
Both men, in their 40s, were stranded overnight, one with a medical condition.
They were airlifted to Hughenden Airport and then transported by road to Hughenden Hospital for further assessment.
Major flood warnings are still in place across Queensland.
Originally published on 7NEWS
