Lithgow’s Volunteer Rescue Association squad got a call out last weekend that resulted in the unusual find of a dirtbike rider stuck 15-metres down a mine shaft with his bike.
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The 24-year-old rider from Manly had been part of an enduro event held at Sunny Corner when he followed a different path from the rest of the competitors and found his bike heading down one of the many holes left from mining in the vicinity. The rider let go of his bike and somehow avoided serious injuries on his way to the bottom.
Captain of the Lithgow VRA Ian Bennett said the rider did not hang around long after his five hour ordeal where the VRA assisted Bathurst Police Rescue.
“Once we got him out he just walked off. He wasn’t too damaged, just a sore wrist.”
The rescue required a Vortex abseil-and-haul set up over the hole. The hole was not more than a metre-and-a-half in diameter, with loose rock around the mine shaft posing a serious challenge for rescuers, Mr Bennett said.