Tasmania Police website
9 May 2019
Westpac Rescue Helicopter – Medivac from Fishing Vessel, Tasman Sea, Flinders Island

Thursday, 9 May 2019 - 6:33 am.

At about 6.20pm on Wednesday 08 May 2019 Tas Maritime Radio received a ‘Mayday’ distress call on the emergency marine radio channel 16. A 22 year old man from NSW was a crew member aboard a commercial fishing vessel from Lakes Entrance, Victoria when he suffered an allergic reaction while working with shell fish and began to have difficulty breathing.

The vessel was approximately 45 Nautical Miles North East of Flinders Island and immediately headed towards the Northern tip of Flinders Island.

The Westpac rescue helicopter located the vessel near Outer Sister Island at the Northern tip of Flinders Island and successfully dropped medication for the crew member. The vessel continued to Killiecrankie Bay and at approximately 3am the crew member was transferred to shore by police with the assistance of a local Killiecrankie fisherman and his vessel.

The crew member was taken by the Westpac rescue helicopter to the Royal Hobart Hospital in a stable condition without further incident.

Tasmania Police would like to thank Tas Maritime Radio and the local fisherman for their assistance with this rescue and also the skipper and crew of the injured fisherman for their calm and professional response which assisted police to safely locate and evacuate the crew member.