Mercy flight to safety

A Kiwi scientist injured while working on remote Raoul Island is recovering well after a 1000km mercy flight home.

GNS Science technician Andrew Cowie, 31, was working on a project to bolt tsunami and volcano detection equipment to the ocean floor when he fell from a boat on Friday afternoon.

"There were quite big swells, I understand," said GNS spokesman John Callan. "He was either getting in or out of the boat when he lost his balance and fell."

The Phillips rescue helicopter flew to Raoul Island - part of the Kermadec group roughly halfway between New Zealand and Tonga - yesterday morning. It landed at Tauranga Hospital - the nearest to Raoul - at about 3pm, carrying Cowie and a Department of Conservation volunteer doctor.

Cowie's wife Sarah Marr, also 31, flew from the couple's home in Featherston with their 14-month-old son James to be with her husband.

"I'm just glad to be here to see him," Marr said. "I had to wait all night because the helicopter couldn't land in the dark. It was a long wait and I was very anxious.

"At first I wasn't really sure if I was going to see him again but after I spoke to the doctor a couple of hours later I felt better," she said. "And I spoke to Andrew on the satellite phone very briefly [on Friday night]."

They were last night awaiting the results of x-rays but Marr, a pharmacist, said doctors suspected Cowie had broken only ribs.

"He's in a bit of pain, but he's happy, talking and making jokes. He's very disappointed because he would have liked to see [the project] all completed."

GNS Science is a government institute dedicated to geoscientific research. Callan said the six-strong team on DoC-administered Raoul was nearing the end of a month-long project to install undersea warning systems. Cowie had worked on many other remote sites, but never this far away.

The rest of the team would remain on the island, Callan said.

Raoul Island is subject to frequent volcanic activity.

Yesterday a powerful 6.7-magnitude earthquake struck 270km to the southwest, but did not cause any damage on the island.

In March 2006, DoC worker Mark Kearney, 33, died after the island's Green Lake erupted.

DoC temporarily evacuated five staff members after the disaster.