Cessnock District Rescue Squad personnel responded to a serious two vehicle head-on collision at 7pm Saturday 16th on Lovedale Road near Tatlers Winery.
Upon arrival at the scene it was evident that both female drivers were trapped and seriously injured with five children also involved in the incident, although not trapped suffering various injuries.
All seven patients were quickly triaged by Paramedics and it was determined that the female driver in one of the vehicles was the most critical and needed to be extricated immediately. Paramedics and Rescue Personnel worked together and quickly removed the women from the vehicle and placed her into an Ambulance.
With the women’s condition deteriorating Paramedics rapidly departed the scene to urgently transport the women to the John Hunter Hospital. However en route the women’s condition continued to worsen and she became pulseless and stopped breathing. Despite their best efforts Paramedics were unable to revive the women before arriving at the hospital.
With Paramedics treating the second driver who was still trapped and the five children being treated on the roadside, Rescue Personnel used hydraulic cutters and spreaders to extricate the remaining trapped patient. The driver’s side of the vehicle was quickly cut away allowing the women to be removed and placed into an Ambulance. The woman was then transported to the Cessnock Airport where a Rescue Helicopter had landed, after being transferred she was then flown to the John Hunter Hospital suffering limb injuries along with possible head, internal and spinal injuries.
The five children of various ages and from both vehicles were further triaged and stabilised at the scene before all being transported by Ambulances to the John Hunter Hospital. All five miraculously appeared to have suffered no life threatening injuries with the most serious being a suspected fractured leg.
Due to the serious nature of the incident and the number of patients a large contingent of emergency service personnel were at the scene and all worked extremely well together to ensure all necessary tasks were performed.
A special thanks is also in order for all the passers-by that stopped and assisted including several doctors and nurses.
At the time of the collision Rescue Squad Personnel were at Murray Street between Abernathy and Kitchener cutting and removing a very large tree that had fallen and was completely blocking the road. Upon completion of all rescue tasks at the collision Rescue 1 returned to this location to complete the tree removal with Murray Street re-opened at around 10pm.
Rescue 2 remained at the collision scene assisting Police Crash Investigation Officers with Lovedale Road closed to all traffic between Wine Country Drive and Majors Lane until 2am.