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NEWS Being Prepared
Victoria Police have praised a 15-year-old schoolboy for not panicking and staying put when he became lost in Victoria's snowbound alpine region. The boy was suffering mild hypothermia when located about 1am (AEST) on Tuesday, eight hours after losing his way in near freezing temperatures. He became separated from a school group about 5pm on Tuesday while tobogganing at Mount St Gwinear in the Baw Baw National Park, east of Melbourne. Police search and rescue and dog squad crews, State Emergency Service (SES) volunteers and staff from Parks Victoria launched a search and found him about 250 metres from where he went missing, Victoria Police spokesman Senior Constable Wayne Wilson said. "He was checked out by medical personnel and apart from suffering some slight hypothermia was otherwise alright," he said. "He's done the right thing. He became disoriented and got lost, but he sat and waited, which they say you should do if you're lost." Fortunately he had been suitably dressed for a cold night on the mountain, Sen Const Wilson said.
| "He had adequate clothing for the conditions which was good." The area was misty, with sleet falling when the search began, with the temperature hovering just above freezing. Mount St Gwinear is on the Mount Baw Baw plateau and is a popular cross-country skiing and bushwalking location.
A Melbourne teenager is recovering in hospital after twice being bitten by a tiger snake while bushwalking. The 15-year-old was hiking with a friend in Kinglake National Park north-east of the city on Sunday when "the snake latched onto his ankle then let go before having another go and biting him again", Rural Ambulance Victoria spokesman John Mullen said. "When our paramedics arrived, the boy was complaining of stomach cramps and blurred vision, which is common for snake bites. He and his friend had put a couple of tourniquets on his ankle. They knew what they were doing and the boy seemed to know his snakes as he [told] our crew it was a tiger snake." Paramedics swapped the tourniquets for a pressure bandage and flew him to the Royal Children's Hospital. Mullen said: "The current advice is not to use a tourniquet but use a pressure bandage, but I doubt he had one to hand, so given the circumstances he knew what he was doing." |
Police have praised a school group involved in a rescue in the New South Wales Snowy Mountains last night. The group of 13 students and three teachers from Melbourne became lost yesterday while on a walk to the summit of Mount Kosciuszko. They had been on the track from Thredbo when the weather closed in and snow began falling. Police said they had decided to build a snow cave and stay in the open overnight. However, one of the teachers began to exhibit signs of hypothermia and it was decided to use a satellite phone to raise the alarm. Police, fire brigade and ambulance officers set out from Thredbo on over-snow vehicles and located the group about 7:30pm AEST yesterday. They were taken back to the village, but none needed hospital treatment. Police said as well as the emergency phone, the group carried a global positioning system device which enabled them to give the rescuers their exact location. They say anyone hiking in the mountains should be similarly prepared. |