Man forced to have leg amputated after one disastrous moment while on vacation
Topics: Australia, Health, Travel, World News
Emily Brown
Featured Image Credit: Tasmania Police
Topics: Australia, Health, Travel, World News
A tourist on vacation in Tasmania had his life changed forever when one disastrous moment led to him having his leg amputated by rescuers who couldn't speak his language.
The Lithuanian man, who was in his 60s, had been visiting the Australian state of Tasmania when the incident unfolded in November 2024.
With 50 years of experience in white water rafting, the man decided to take on the Franklin River as part of a private tour with a group of friends, but while there he slipped on a rock and his leg became wedged underwater.
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Several attempts were made to free him, but Tasmania Police constable Callum Herbert later explained the man had fallen 'in an awkward position', and found himself in 'circumstances where he could not be physically removed', news.com.au reports.
Ace Petrie, a Surf Life Saving Tasmania swift water rescue technician, added: “He was sort of wedged, I would describe it like an hourglass, he had his knee trapped in the rocks in a deep section of that rapid."
After about an hour of the man being trapped in the water, his smartwatch made a call to emergency services and rescuers from Ambulance Tasmania, Tasmania Police, Surf Life Saving Tasmania, the SES and the Tasmania Fire Service came to his aid.
Efforts to rescue the man continued for the next 20 hours, but as rescuers ran out of options and became fearful for the man's condition, the decision was made to amputate his leg above the knee.
Unfortunately a language barrier meant the rescuers struggled to communicate this news, but they found help through one of the man's companions; a Lithuanian doctor who could translate some of the medical information.
Mitch Parkinson, an Ambulance Tasmania intensive care flight paramedic, explained: “The complexities of amputation anywhere are significant. There is an incredible ethical (and) legal component to that discussion and then we lay in the complexities of it needing to be done to achieve his rescue and it being in broken English and being shared through a Lithuanian translator.
“We did our best to convey the realities of his entrapment."
Thankfully, the trapped man was described 'exceptionally strong and robust', and maintained a 'resilient persona' throughout the hours he was trapped.
Petrie said the rescue was made more difficult by the 'very dynamic, changing, hazardous environment', they all found themselves in.
Once the decision had been made to amputate the man's leg, he was able to be safely removed from the river and airlifted to Royal Hobart Hospital. After weeks in recovery, the man has now been allowed to return to Lithuania.
Tasmanian Police acting assistant commissioner Doug Oosterloo has praised the efforts that went into the man's rescue, saying: “This rescue was an extremely challenging and technical operation and an incredible effort over many hours to save the man’s life.
“Every effort was made to extract the man before the difficult decision to amputate his leg. The professionalism and commitment of all emergency responders is to be commended.”