April 14th, 2023Bushwalker rescued from mine at Sailors Fall

Words: Donna Kelly | Image: Contributed

A bushwalker in his 30s was rescued after falling down a mineshaft near Sailors Falls on Sunday
morning, April 2.
Leonards Hill Fire Brigade captain Marc Dankers, who was the incident controller, said he received a call at
11.41am about the incident off Telegraph Road.

“It was a confined space rescue, a mineshaft, so that activated a specialist mining unit which was the CFA’s
Oscar 1 unit, located in Bendigo and Castlemaine.
“We also had Fire Rescue Victoria’s Hazmat 68 from Lucas in Ballarat, and a FRV pumper from Ballarat City
because of the possibility of toxic gases.”
Support also came from Daylesford CFA, FRV’sDistrict Operations, Ballan Group FCV, Birch Group
FCV, Ambulance Victoria and Victoria Police.
Captain Dankers said the man and a woman, in their 30s, had been bushwalking in the area with their dogswhen the man “misstepped” and fell into the mineshaft.
The woman called triple zero.
“The mineshaft turned out to be reasonably small,with a narrow shaft and only about two metres deep. So that was very lucky,” Captain Dankers said.
“The man just misstepped – there are heaps of mineshafts around that area – and
despite a dislocated shoulder, was eventually able to climb out with assistance using a
ladder. Everyone worked really well as a team to get that good result.
“It’s the first mineshaft rescue I have been involved in but you hear about
them from other areas, they do happen, but often people can get themselves out of
trouble.”
Captain Dankers said the rescue took a couple of hours and as they were
debriefing, a call came from Ambulance Victoria that a man had fallen off his horse in
Blampied. He had broken his femur, the thigh bone, and was in a lot of pain.
“He needed assistance so it turned out to be quite the afternoon – and I want to
thank everyone involved.”
Captain Dankers said being a CFA volunteer meant you could be called to any
kind of incident “from car accidents and traffic incidents to fires and bush rescues”.
“It really is very diverse but that makes it interesting as well.”