Chopper winches victim to safety after Waioeka Gorge crash

The Trust Tairāwhiti Eastland Rescue Helicopter crew winch an injured motorist after a single-vehicle crash near Opato Bridge on State Highway 2 in the Waioeka Gorge on New Year's Eve. The person was seriously injured and was transported to Gisborne Hospital.

A person was seriously injured when a car went down a bank in the Waioeka Gorge on New Year’s Eve.

Firefighters from Matawai volunteer brigade, police, Hato Hone St John and two rescue helicopters - including the Trust Tairāwhiti Eastland Rescue Helicopter - responded to the crash at the Gisborne end of the gorge.

The car, which had two occupants, went off the road and 10 metres down a bank near Opato Bridge on State Highway 2.

One of them suffered serious injuries; the other minor, according to a St John incident report.

The incident was called in at around 5.50pm on Tuesday.

“The initial callout came in through an SOS function on an iPhone,” Matawai chief fire officer Hamish Carmichael told the Gisborne Herald.

“One of the occupants also made his way up to the road and raised the alarm with a passerby.”

Carmichael said there was no cellphone coverage in that area so the iPhone must have had some sort of satellite link.

“One of the two people in the vehicle was winched out of the gorge by [the Eastland] rescue helicopter and flown to Gisborne Hospital with Status 3 injuries - basically impact from seatbelts.

“The other person went along in the chopper for a check-up.”

A crewman from the Trust Tairāwhiti Eastland Rescue Helicopter supports an injured person on a stretcher as they are winched from the crashed vehicle.

The other rescue chopper, from Taupō, was not required.

Carmichael said the people in the car were believed to be from this area.