At approximately 1.30pm AEDT yesterday, AMSA’s Rescue Coordination Centre (RCC Australia) detected a Personal Locator Beacon (PLB) in the Blue Mountains National Park.
RCC Australia tasked a police helicopter in the area at the time to locate the beacon. The helicopter found three female bushwalkers who had been stranded by rising water and winched them to safety.
The women were uninjured. AMSA encourages all bushwalkers to carry a GPS-equipped beacon in case of emergencies and register their beacon with AMSA to significantly reduce the response time in search and rescue operations.
In this incident, the women had hired their PLB from the Katoomba Police Station. Bushwalkers are also encouraged to always carry necessary equipment such as sufficient food and water, warm clothing, first aid kit and a torch.
AMSA also strongly advises bushwalkers to check the weather forecast before they head out and consider postponing their bushwalk in the case of bad weather.