Coastguards save boy who fell down a mountain - 11,000 MILES away
7 Oct 2013 00:00
By Richard Smith
A satellite distress beacon was activated on an 8,200ft volcano in New Zealand and the alarm was triggered in Cornwall
Distress call: New Zealand
A schoolboy was rescued from a New Zealand mountain – thanks to coastguards on the other side of the globe.
The 15-year-old lad was knocked unconscious in a fall.
A satellite distress beacon was activated yesterday morning on 8,200ft volcano Mt Taranaki, which triggered an alarm with coastguards in Falmouth, Cornwall.
And they were able to guide helicopter mountain rescuers on the west coast of North Island.
The boy was on a trip with World Challenge, the UK’s biggest organiser of adventure holidays for schools.
He recovered after being airlifted to nearby New Plymouth Hospital.
The Maritime and Coastguard often responds to this type of distress call picked up by international SOS systems.
A spokesman said: “Details are held at Falmouth so cases thousands of miles away come to us.”
A probe has been launched into the New Zealander’s accident.
