Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary Pacific Unit 12 Halfmoon Bay (CCGA 12) was tasked to assist, along with four other Search and Rescue (SAR) and emergency medical services after a 40-year-old hiker on North Thormanby Island found himself pinned under a fallen tree with a broken leg last Sunday.
At 3:20 p.m. three members of CCGA 12 were paged, and shortly thereafter CCGA 61 (Pender Harbour) was also tasked to assist. With little daylight remaining, two B.C. Ambulance members were met at the Halfmoon Bay government dock along with 15 members of Sunshine Coast Search and Rescue for transport to North Thormanby. Unit 12's fast response Zodiac sped the first group of people and equipment to the island while the rest were boarding Unit 61's larger but slower vessel. The Hovercraft had also been tasked. All told, more than 25 rescue personnel were involved from four different agencies. "As soon as the two EMS and three search and rescue members arrived on Thormanby, CCGA 12 returned to rendezvous with CCGA 61 and quickly transport three more SAR members along with their equipment to Thormanby," said CCGA 12 media liaison Scott Baker. "As EMS and SAR members trekked into the location of the injured hiker, CCGA 12 and CCGA 61 provided radio relay between the rescue coordination centre (via Comox Coast Guard radio) and the ground-based rescue effort as well as on-scene reports to the approaching Hovercraft."
The successful rescue saw the hiker aboard the hovercraft, which beached just north of the Vaucroft dock on Thormanby as CCGA 12 and CCGA 61 transported all the search members back to Halfmoon Bay.
