News

The Royal Flying Doctor Service has played an integral role in the search and rescue of a 38 year old Adelaide man this week, after he became bogged in the South Australian outback while attempting to travel from Adelaide to Cairns.

Flight nurse Brendon Kiley and pilot Shane Brook from the Broken Hill RFDS base were flying from Adelaide to Tibooburra on Wednesday afternoon when they intercepted a distress call from the man. They diverted their flight to try and locate the man, while radioing for help from Australian Search and Rescue. The Flying Doctor remained in contact with the man on their flight back to Broken Hill, helping Search and Rescue to identify his location near Mt Hopeless in north east SA, where the local police found and assisted him on Thursday.

RFDS (South Eastern Section) executive director Clyde Thomson praised the efforts of his team in responding to the distress calls.

"The Flying Doctor helps people who live, work or travel in outback Australia in any way we can - be it by providing emergency medical services, healthcare, or in this case, search and rescue operations. We know how tough conditions can be for travellers in outback Australia, in fact, around 20 per cent of all the emergency calls we receive are from travellers in trouble," Mr Thomson said.

"We encourage anyone who is travelling out here to ensure they are well prepared for the journey ahead, and to take extra care on the roads, many of which are wet following recent rainfall and flooding. Most importantly, remember to take with you a satellite telephone if you are going to be outside the coverage of the mobile telephone network, emergency phone numbers and radio frequencies, so that you can always reach help in an emergency," Mr Thomson said.

Click here for more information on safe outback travel, or here for the RFDS emergency phone and radio contact details.