British beacon saves man fishing in NZ

Photo / Thinkstock

A 17,000km rescue drama was triggered when Chris Painter stumbled and became crippled 274m up an isolated mountain.

The man was unable to move and totally alone after injuring his knee part-way through a 10-day fishing trip in Kahurangi National Park last week.

There was no mobile phone signal but the safety-conscious 61-year-old, who emigrated to New Plymouth from the UK eight years ago, had a personal locator beacon.

However, it was registered in Britain where he bought it 10 years ago.

When he activated it the signal was picked up by a satellite and beamed from space, 17,000km around the world, to the UK's search and rescue centre at RAF Kinloss in Scotland.

The faint mystery signal was then passed to coastguards in Falmouth, Cornwall, who discovered the beacon was registered 10 years ago to a Mr Painter who lived in Yorkshire.

Coastguard records showed Mr Painter's next-of-kin was his sister-in-law Susan Foster Yorkshire.

In the middle of the night, coastguards telephoned Ms Foster and asked if she knew a Mr Painter.

In a slight daze, she replied: "Yes, he's my brother-in-law. He's in New Zealand."

Those few words triggered a trans-world rescue bid which ended with the retired teacher being plucked from the remote mountains by helicopter - less than two hours after he activated the beacon.

Mr Painter was yesterday recovering at his home and walking with the aid of crutches.

"Whilst descending towards Karamea via the Leslie track I sustained an injury to my knee which, although uncomfortable, did not hamper me continuing. My intention was to reach the Karamea bend hut and rest.

"However, at 7.30pm - about one hour from the hut - I stumbled and was in considerable pain.

"Unable to stand, I crawled around erecting my emergency bivouac tent.

"I bought this PLB 10 years ago but since immigrating to New Zealand I had not updated any of the contact information.

"This resulted in the coastguard at Falmouth being alerted.

"One hour and 20 minutes later a rescue helicopter landed and I was being attended to by a paramedic."

He was eventually helped to the rescue helicopter and flown to hospital.

Peter Bullard, watch manager at Falmouth Coastguard station, in Cornwall, said thanks to the beacon being properly registered, his crew were able to act fast.

"We were speaking to our New Zealand colleagues about six or seven minutes after the alert was received."

Ms Foster said she was eternally grateful to rescuers and was full of praise for modern technology.

A Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand spokesman said it was not uncommon for beacons to go off in other countries which then alerted them to the emergency.

- agencies