NSW: Rescuers search NSW Blue Mountains for injured parachutist

AAP General News (Australia)
12-29-2003
NSW: Rescuers search NSW Blue Mountains for injured parachutist

SYDNEY, Dec 29 AAP - Emergency crews were tonight scouring a rugged area of the NSW
Blue Mountains for a parachutist believed to have hit a cliff after jumping into a valley.

Onlookers recounted seeing the base jumper come close to or hit the 300- to 400-metre
cliff in the Megalong Valley near Katoomba, west of Sydney, just before 8pm (AEDT).

He is believed to have crash-landed halfway down the valley at Cyclorama Point, NRMA
Careflight director Ian Badham said.

A rescue helicopter was using a high-powered search light to look for the man in the
craggy terrain, he said.

Police and ambulance officers were combing the valley floor below.

It was possible the man had recovered and left the area, Mr Badham said.

He said the search would continue for another half an hour.

AAP ea/jv

KEYWORD: PARACHUTIST

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