RFDS among first to respond to devastating incident in Kowanyama

Date published

07 Oct 2016

The Royal Flying Doctor Service (Queensland Section) were among the first to respond this afternoon after numerous people were injured in the Cape York community of Kowanyama, after a vehicle crashed through a house where a large group of people were gathered.

One aircraft from the RFDS Cairns Base transported three patients, two female and one male, to Cairns Hospital.

A second aircraft tasked from the RFDS Townsville Base flew another two patients to Townsville Hospital.

A third aircraft will use a seating configuration to transport a further seven patients with non-urgent, lower limb injuries to Cairns Hospital.

There will be another RFDS Cairns flight later tonight that will take another one patient to Cairns as well as one more flight from Townsville to transfer another two patients. Medical staff on the ground will further assess those patients with non-urgent injuries.

Aero-medical retrieval capacity is available over the weekend to airlift any of these patients to Cairns or Townsville should their condition become more serious.

A total of 15 people will be transferred from Kowanyama by the RFDS.