Medical evacuation from Southern Ocean

Two helicopters were dispatched from Invercargill this morning to pick up a man who had fallen ill on an island in the Southern Ocean.

A National Rescue Co-ordination Centre spokesman said the man, aged 54, became ill last night on Snares Islands, 230km south of New Zealand.

A doctor had decided the man needed urgent medical attention.

Two helicopters left Invercargill at 6.30am and arrived at the islands about an hour later.

They arrived back in Invercargill about 10am, and the sick man was then flown to Dunedin Hospital for medical treatment.

The man, an Australian who works for Tasmania's Parks and Wildlife Service, was doing voluntary work with three others for Otago University's zoology department on the unpopulated islands.

The tiny islands are known for their populations of elephant seals and penguins.

Rescue Co-ordination Centre spokesman John Dickson said the university team were the only people on the island at the time and staying in a hut.

The man's wife was arriving in New Zealand from Australia today.

- NZPA