Soldiers carry injured teen out of bush

An injured teenager was carried out of the Tararuas by army personnel who had been exercising in the mountains.

Jaimee-Rose Robinson, 16, a boarder at Solway College in Masterton was leading a school tramp when she fell and hurt her elbow during the weekend.

As she and her group of five other girls and two adults made their way down the Gentle Annie track they came across the army exercise.

Three soldiers took it in turns to carry Jaimee-Rose, who was in pain, exhausted, and getting cold after injuring her arm, on their shoulders down the hill.

Once the group was on level ground, the soldiers opened up a stretcher and carried Jaimee-Rose the last kilometre to the relative comfort of a waiting ambulance.

The ambulance had been called by her school principal, who had been told of Jaimee-Rose's injury by cellphone.

The soldiers were fully attired for combat training, complete with supplies and unloaded weapons.

"They were all good guys. I was pretty glad to see them because I was tired and had no energy," Jaimee-Rose said.

- NZPA