A critically injured person was freed from the wreckage on Sunday night. Photo: Supplied / David McNeill
A critically injured person has been freed from the wreckage of a campervan by emergency services and a digger, more than two hours after a tree fell on the vehicle.
The incident unfolded in the tiny rural settlement of Balmoral, in Canterbury's Hurunui district, on Sunday night.
A Fire and Emergency NZ spokesperson said they received reports of the fallen tree just before 7:30pm.
St John Ambulance had been treating the patient while they were still trapped.
St John Ambulance said the patient had critical injuries.
Campers have been moved to a safer area, the campground confirmed.
Hurunui Council spokesperson Dan Harris said the campground, which is operated by a charitable trust, remains open, with some restricted areas.
An arborist will inspect the trees and the trust will then decide the next steps.
Harris said the initial information is that the tree fell in high winds.
The complicated rescue required heavy machinery and lasted hours. Photo: Supplied / David McNeill
Fire and emergency shift manager Simon Lyford says the complicated rescue required heavy machinery and lasted hours, with a local contractor's digger and a farmer's tractor brought in to help.
Fire crews were able to remove the trunk of the tree, and the person was extricated just before 10pm.
It was not clear if the incident, in Balmoral, was caused by the weather, although there were severe thunderstorm warnings in the area earlier, the spokesperson said.
Efforts to get a rescue helicopter to the incident were unsuccessful and it had to be stood down due to weather.
Firefighters used a local contractor's digger and a farmer's tractor to help free the person. Photo: Supplied / David McNeill
The person would instead be transported to hospital by road.
Chief fire officer of the Culverden Volunteer Fire Brigade, Craig Ritchie, told Morning Report services that night were "pushed a wee bit", as they were already attending to a vehicle crash when they got the call.
"We arrived at the Balmoral camping ground about 7:30pm and there was a large tree over the top of the campervan at that time…
"With the size of the tree we needed some pretty heavy duty lifting gear… we were able to get a tractor from Ngāi Tahu farms just down the road, a 230 horsepower tractor, and a local contractor was contacted to get his digger."
Ritchie said the tree was brought down by a "freak wind gust". The injured person was conscious and talking to rescuers at leat "until the drugs were administered", he said.
