Story By: Gheorghi Caraseni, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News
Video Credit: CEN/@SalvamontNeamt
This is the moment mountain rescuers use a helicopter to rescue a 300-lb tourist because he was too heavy to carry down the mountain.
The incident took place around the Cheahlau Massif in Neamts County, in north-eastern Romania when the unnamed 52-year-old man was walking with two other people from the Romanian city of Botoshani.
The group reportedly reached the Dochia chalet at a height of 1,800 metres (5905 feet), when the man slipped and fell to the ground hitting himself on a rock.
The group could not continue because of the man’s pain and the Neamts County mountain rescuers were called.
They quickly arrived on the scene but could not take him down the mountain to safety because of the weather conditions and the man’s weight, which was reported to be over 130 kilogrammes (286 lbs).
Raul Papalicef, the Head of the Neamts County mountain rescue service, said: “It was a 52-year-old overweight man, who weighs around 300 lbs, maybe even more. The group he was a part of was walking towards the Izvorul Muntelui site, a little higher than the chalet, in the evening. Because of the lack of precipitation, the ground on the mountain there became a true ice plate.
“At some point, the man slipped and hit his dorsal on a rock. We’ve arrived at the spot and found out, after giving first aid, the man had a thorax-lumbar trauma.”
According to the official, the man stayed in the chalet overnight and the next morning they contacted the main Romanian rescue service, called SMURD, to take the man to hospital.
As can be seen in the video, a SMURD helicopter flew to the scene and the man was placed inside on a stretcher before being flown to the nearest hospital. The flight lasted 45 minutes and Papalicef said: “If we’d try to take him down on our own, it would have taken at least six hours”.
There are no updates on his condition.
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