The Sunshine Coast RACQ LifeFlight Rescue helicopter crew has airlifted a man to hospital, after he came close to drowning at a Great Sandy National Park beach.
The rescue chopper was called into action just before 5.30pm (Good Fri 7th April), tasked by Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA).
AMSA was alerted when a person on the beach set off a Satellite Emergency Notification Device (SEND), indicating the exact location of the incident, which happened in an area with limited mobile phone reception.
Queensland Police Service officers cleared a landing zone on the sand for the rescue helicopter.
Emergency services were told the man, who was camping with friends at the popular tourist area, had been swimming in the ocean late this afternoon when he became caught in a rip.
He was reportedly in extreme difficulty and had gone under the surface a number of times, when a man on a surfboard came to the rescue, pulling him from the water and taking him to shore.
The patient, who is aged in his twenties, was conscious and able to walk, when he was assessed by the RACQ LifeFlight Rescue Critical Care Doctor.
He was flown to Sunshine Coast University Hospital in a stable condition for further medical treatment.
