Injured motorcyclists airlifted to hospital

File photo / NZ Herald

Injured motorcyclists were airlifted to hospitals in two separate incidents in the lower North Island today.

Early this afternoon the Wellington-based Westpac rescue helicopter flew an injured motorcyclist from the Rimutaka Hill Road.

The helicopter, with a Wellington Free Ambulance paramedic on board, was called to the accident scene a few minutes before noon.

Crewman Dave Greenberg said that the crash happened on the Wellington side of the Rimutaka Summit.

"On our arrival a Wellington Free Ambulance crew were treating a 20-year-old Wainuiomata man who had hit and gone under the road barrier alongside the road," he said.

The helicopter landed in a lay-by near the accident scene and the man was flown to the Wellington Hospital emergency department where he was being treated and assessed for multiple non life-threatening injuries.

About the same time the Hawke's Bay-based Lowe Corporation rescue helicopter was sent to Ongaonga where a man had fallen from his off-road motorcycle, injuring his shoulder.

While on scene the rescue helicopter was responded to another incident involving a two-car head-on collision on a gravel road at Ashley Clinton. A woman, who had suffered chest injuries from the car accident, and the motorcyclist were both flown to Hawke's Bay Hospital.

- NZPA