Man impaled on tree in abseiling accident

Nambour 4560

A 27-year-old man has serious injuries after an abseiling accident on Mount Tinbeerwah at the Sunshine Coast.

A Queensland Ambulance Service spokesman says the man was impaled on a tree at the bottom of the mountain with the branch protruding through his abdomen.

Energex helicopter pilot John Hodges says it was a difficult rescue operation.

“He was doing a rapid descent and he has actually descended very quickly and impaled himself in the lower regions with this stick that has gone right through into his abdomen,” he said.

“The stick broke off and he kept going down through to the ground.

“We have winched him out of there along with a crewman and flown him to Nambour Hospital.”