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CFB Comox crews rescue woman from remote beach

Nelson Island
Comox Rescue
The crew of a Royal Canadian Air Force Cormorant helicopter stepped into action after alerted by the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre Victoria of a woman in possible medical distress on Nelson Island on Wednesday night Aug. 20.

Rescue crews from the Canadian Forces Base Comox evacuated a woman from a rocky and remote stretch of beach on Nelson Island, off the Sunshine Coast, early Wednesday evening.

The crew of a Royal Canadian Air Force Cormorant helicopter was called by the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre Victoria to help a woman who had fallen and was possibly in shock.

The 442 rescue squadron members report leaving 19 Wing Comox base at about 4:45 p.m. Wednesday and arriving on the scene at 5:52 p.m.

The middle-aged woman, who has not been identified, was at the end of a long, narrow inlet, according to Maritime Forces Pacific.

MARPAC spokesman Ron MacDougall said this morning the victim fell on rocks while walking on a beach and broke her arm and wrist. Another man on beach called emergency personnel and reported the woman showed signs of shock.

Helicopter pilot Capt. Will Livingston reported the tall trees made for a tricky rescue.

The marine search and rescue unit from Pender Harbour was first on the scene. Canadian Coast Guard vessel Cape Caution and a Powell River lifeboat also went.

Because of the tall trees, the search and rescue technicians had to be hoisted by helicopter 52 metres into a clearing near a cabin and meet the woman on the beach.

There search and rescue members administered first aid and some splinting of her arm and wrist was done. The woman was placed in a rescue basket and hoisted into a Cormorant helicopter and flown to Vancouver International Airport.

B.C. Ambulance took the woman, who was in stable condition, to hospital.