100 men, 24 hours to rescue man Leg amputated to save man’s life *Plus check out this second video below about how he was rescued Rustenburg – For Tsenollo ShadrackRasello, what was meant to be a short trip up and down the mountain to collect “holy water” for cleansing and healing rituals at the Kloof resort outside Rustenburg, turned into a three-day nightmare of gigantic proportions when he slipped, fell about 70 metres and was trapped in a narrow rock crevice. Three days later, the 26 year-old member of the Zion Christian Church (ZCC) was still trapped. According to unconfirmed reports, Rasello was frightened by a snake and fell. He stumbled and fell between two cliffs where his one foot became wedged between two rocks at about 11:00 on Friday, 19 September 2014. “He fortunately had his phone with him and alerted his family who contacted the police,” Caption Elsabé Augoustides explained. “The family member contacted the Rustenburg Police station; and the search was initiated.” A SAPS search and rescue team was deployed and a helicopter was sent from the Africa Aerospace and Defence Air Show to help locate the trapped young man, but the narrow crevice of about half a metre in diameter in which he was trapped was surrounded by loose rocks, which further hampered detection. Eventually his blue overall sleeve was seen and a member of the fire brigade was sentto assess the situation. It was soon realised that freeing Rasello was not going to be easy and the search and rescue mountain club of South Africa was contacted to assist, but they failed to locate Rasello by nightfall and the search was abandoned until first light on Saturday. “On Saturday Rasello was located and Richard Piek, a BTech paramedic from Med247 was deployed to care for Rasello, who was in great pain and severely traumatised. Piek monitored his patient through Saturday until Sunday morning when he was relieved by amongst others Terry Kgame, Nina de Beer and Michael Ramarumo,” Mr Kops from Med247 explained in an interview with the Platinum Weekly. Falling rocks and the possible collapse of big rocks posed a constant risk and specialists from Lonmin and Impala were consulted to assist in the rescue without causing a collapse. By this time Rasello was in severe pain and had lost all feeling in his foot and ankle, and on Sunday morning Professor Frank Plani of the Chris Hani-Baragwanath hospital arrived to do the amputation. Plani was at a hospital function on Saturday evening when he was contacted to assist, and said in his 34 years as a surgeon it was the first time he had been asked to amputate a leg in a rock crevice. Plani and Dr Olllie Smith, the anaesthetist, were flown to the site by helicopter. Fortunately the surgeon has experience of rock climbing in the Alps, and was not fazed by the daunting task facing him. By the time they reached Rasello at about 12:00, the patient had been given a tranquiliser and was desperate for the operation to continue so he could be freed. The anaesthetic was administered, but because Polani could get only his head through the opening where Rasello was trapped, he had to give instructions to Smith, who is smaller, to assist with the amputation. The right leg was clamped to stop blood circulation and was amputated just below the knee, and all the while unstable rocks fell around the medical team, where they and Rasello were in danger of being crushed at any time. The operation lasted about 20 minutes and the leg and foot was left where it was trapped. Plani said it was impossible to determine whether the right foot was still healthy as it could not be reached at all. Rasello was hoisted up out of his rocky prison and airlifted to the Chris Hani-Baragwanath hospital for further treatment, where by Sunday night he was still sedated and on a ventilator. Ernst Kleynhans of the Rustenburg Kloof resort management, said in terms of an agreement with the local city council, they allow access to members of the ZCC to perform their cleansing ritual. Rustenburg KloofManagementfurther explained that they are very relieved that the man survived and urged ZCC members not to enter the Kloof via the nature reserve, but rather from the Kloof’s entrance. They also thanked each and every individual that went out of their way to ensure this man’s life was saved. According to reports about 100 people from ten different institutions including at least 30 rescue workers, were involved in the rescue operation. Rob Thomas, leader of the Search and Rescue Mountain Club of South Africa, thanked all the organisations involved in the rescue operation , including the Rustenburg SAPS and fire brigade, North West disaster management, Off-road Rescue Unit, the South African Air Force whose helicopter was used in the rescue, Lonmin and Impala mine rescue, Anglo PROTO, Netcare 911, ER24, Nedi-Assist, Med247 and the University of Johannesburg medical team for accomplishing the mammoth task and saving Tsenolo Rasello’s life.
Posted on: Wed, 01 Oct 2014 16:37:05 +0000