Royal Flying Doctor airplane landed at Traeger Roadstrip near Glendambo on Saturday to airlift a critically injured patient.  Emergency Services from Coober Pedy included SA Police, SA Ambulance, Mine Rescue/SES and CFS. Prominent Hill Mine, OZ Minerals ERT also responded

By Margaret Mackay

The Stuart Highway was temporarily closed on Saturday afternoon 6-7-2019 for the RFDS to land on the Traeger Roadstrip, near Glendambo in South Australia’s Far North. They landed to airlift a critically-injured patient following a motor vehicle accident. The accident occurred on the Stuart Highway at Mt. Eba, near the Bulgunnia turnoff.

The responding retrieval team from RFDS Port Augusta Base then landed at Adelaide Airport with the patient, who remained in a stable condition, and was transferred via road ambulance to Royal Adelaide Hospital.

First-responders and outback emergency services closed the highway for RFDS to safely land and airlift the patient to safety. Emergency Services from Coober Pedy included SA Police, SA Ambulance, Mine Rescue/SES and CFS. Prominent Hill Mine, OZ Minerals ERT also responded to support the local emergency services.

Coober Pedy Mine Rescue SES responded to the incident at 10:15am on Saturday the 6th of July.

Michael Beelitz, Unit Manager said “It was a wonderful team response from all agencies in town to successfully rescue the young lady involved in the accident.”

“Our team successfully co-ordinated the closure of the air strip and supported the RFDS team to stabilise and load the casualty in to the plane. It was really good to see the Traeger Airstrip utilised and be able to support a successful rescue,” he said.

“Thank you to all of our local volunteers for responding to tourist incidents and the Flying Doctor Service for also keeping our country as safe as possible.”