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Canadian Forces save injured man from remote logging site

The crew of a Cormorant helicopter receives a patient from BC Ambulance paramedics at a logging road near Holberg B.C. on Vancouver Island, Monday afternoon, August 12 2013. 19 Wing Comox

Canadian Forces members helped save an injured man from a logging site Monday afternoon.

The Joint Rescue Coordination Centre got a call for help from the B.C. Ambulance Service about a man who had been struck by a falling branch.

An RCAF Cormorant helicopter was dispatched from 19 Wing Comox to the area, which was shrouded in fog, low clouds and rain.

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“We had bad weather most of the way,” said Major Troy Maa, aircraft commander. “We were flying by instruments, but we were able to pick out a landing spot on a logging road where we met the ambulance.”

The man was loaded onto the helicopter and was flown to Victoria.

“Because changes in air pressure may have complicated the patient’s condition, we had to be careful and stay at low altitude for the return flight,” said Master Corporal Giles Bagley, Search and Rescue Technician.

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Pilots used the navigation and instrument systems of the helicopter to fly though the clouds to Victoria as they were unable to fly over the weather.

The man was transferred to hospital in stable condition.

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