'Samaritan' miner saves ambulance from flood

Adrian Taylor | 1st December 2008

A ROCKHAMPTON mining contractor is being hailed as “the ultimate Samaritan” for his part in the rescue of an ambulance, its crew and patient as rising floodwaters threatened to sweep it into a swollen creek.

Blackwater paramedic Melissa Murdoch yesterday described how her stricken Holden Commodore ambulance was pounded by a fast-flowing surge of water washing over the Capricorn Highway near Bluff.

When the electrics failed in the drenching, Melissa considered evacuating her woman patient into the knee-deep water.

But the miner, who had been following in his Land Rover, waded through the flood to attach a tow line to the ambulance and pulled it through the rising waters to safety.

Melissa, a paramedic for 12 years, was full of praise for the miner and other motorists who stopped to help.

“He did a great job and I was very very grateful,” she said.

“When I got out of the vehicle to talk to him I had to concentrate to keep upright and I realised we could easily be swept into the creek. But we weren't in danger for long.”

The mining contractor, who works for HMP Constructions and lives in Rockhampton, said he acted instinctively and did not want to be identified.

“I would come in for too much grief at work,” he said.

“I'm a big bloke, around 125 kilograms, but I had to fight against the rush of water to stay on my feet,” he said. “In places it was at least a metre deep.”

He towed the ambulance to Bluff and gave Melissa some dry clothes to change into.

The ambulance crew waited at Bluff for a replacement ambulance to continue the journey to Rockhampton Hospital with the patient.

Yesterday Queensland Ambulance Service Central West area director Mark Tobin said it was reassuring to see such public spirit when danger threatened.

“There were a number of other people who stopped to help the miner hook up his vehicle to the ambulance. He was the ultimate Samaritan in that he came to the aid of people in a very precarious situation.

“He was also very gracious throughout.”

The incident happened on Friday night as sudden heavy rain turned the Capricorn Highway into a river.

The relief ambulance got the patient to Rockhampton in a stable condition.

The miner, who had been working at Curragh Mine where he drives heavy earth moving machines, said: “The flow of water was strong and was shaking the vehicle.

“I was on my own and I've never seen anything like it. It was a frightening ordeal.”

Melissa was back at work yesterday in Blackwater.

“It was going to give him an official thank-you from QAS,” she said. But there were lots of heroes that night. Everyone rallied round.”

I'm a big bloke ... but I had to fight against the rush of water to stay on my feet