Danish hunter badly injured in New Zealand mountains

A Danish hunter was due to have surgery on his badly broken leg in Greymouth Hospital on Thursday after a serious fall in Westland on South Island Monday, emergency officials said.

Foul weather had prevented rescuers reaching him for 32 hours, Constable Tony Le Sueur, of Whataroa police, said Wednesday.

The 23-year-old man, whom police have not identified, was hunting with three fellow Danes near the headwaters of the Karangarua River, south of Fox Glacier, when he fell down a series of waterfalls.

The man had slipped while crossing a gully and fallen about 50 meters down the waterfalls in a creek, he said.

The injured man had ended his fall in a "very awkward position" and one of his friends had had to stay with him throughout Monday night to prevent him falling further, Le Sueur said.

Fox Alpine rescue team who rescued the man by helicopter Tuesday night found he had a badly broken left thigh with an open wound.

The Danes, aged 23 to 35, had been regular visitors to South Westland in recent years hunting for chamois and tahr.

Le Sueur said the man did not want his name released as he was planning to contact family in Denmark after the surgery Thursday, reports the AP.

I.L.

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