Woman survives night in bushland
June 26, 2005
A SYDNEY woman with 30 years orienteering experience has survived a bitterly cold night in bushland in the NSW southern highlands after becoming lost while competing.
The 69-year-old woman from Gladesville is an experienced trekker and was taking part in the orienteering event in the Bungonia National Park near Goulburn yesterday afternoon.
But she became lost and was forced to spend the night in bushland with only light clothing and minimal supplies with temperatures at Goulburn dropping to just four degrees Celsius.
Fellow competitors raised concerns about the woman's whereabouts yesterday afternoon when she failed to return after the scheduled finishing time of 4pm (AEST).
Informal attempts to locate the woman failed and police and emergency services were called in to conduct a land and air search.
When conditions proved too difficult late last night, the search was halted until this morning.
The woman was located about 2pm (AEST) today and airlifted to Canberra Hospital.
An ambulance spokesman said when found she was suffering from hypothermia but appeared to have been lucky considering the conditions.
Just wondering how many clubs have a dedicated plan regarding what to do when someone doesn't return from the forest, I know some stuff like this comes up on coaching & first aid courses, does it come up in any of the other event organisation courses?