Magaliesberg Search & Rescue

We heard the thump of chopper blades near midnight on Sunday before we saw it rise like a dark angel above the cliffs in the Magaliesberg. Pilots flew with night vision goggles, no lights, and torches lit up a rough landing zone.

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An icy wind blew while the chopper circled, and the injured climber and rescue crews waited under a tree. If the Netcare 911 air ambulance hadn't been able to land, it would have taken us all night to evacuate the patient, a 72-year-old professor and expert climber, down the steep, forest trail after he had fallen dangerously. A rock had broken off in his hand eight hours before and he had briefly lost consciousness and dislocated his shoulder.

The Mountain Club SA's Search and Rescue and the Off Road Rescue Unit responded first to the accident. Volunteers had hiked up with a stretcher and medical kit, stabilised him in the stretcher, given him a drip and safely taken him off the wall and up to the landing zone.

After the helicopter touched down a paramedic checked the patient and we loaded him onto it. It took off for Netcare Milpark Hospital in Johannesburg and within half an hour he had been admitted to the trauma intensive care unit.