Tourist goes into cardiac arrest while climbing Uluru

Northern Territory, Australia - March 30, 2016: Pre-dawn at Uluru, in the heart of Australia's Outback. A plain of grass in the foreground stretches away towards the horizon and great limestone mass that is Uluru. In the sky can be seen multiple stars.
By Travel Weekly


An Australian man has gone into cardiac arrest while scaling Uluru, as tourists flock to the famous rock before a climbing ban begins in October.

The 64-year-old had climbed about halfway up Uluru with his tour group before he went into cardiac arrest on Tuesday, a flight nurse with the Royal Flying Doctor Service told ABC News.

Two paramedics who were travelling spotted the commotion and proceeded to climb the rock to help by providing medication and organising medical assistance, while two miners who were trained to perform vertical rescues immediately performed CPR.

ABC News reported that two off-duty police officers were also on the scene, who managed to get a defribrillator to help keep the man alive.

The man was then transferred onto a stretcher before being taken back down by the rock using aeries of ropes and pulleys in a two-and-a-half-hour effort.

The incident comes as Uluru experiences a boom in tourists wishing to climb the rock before a ban is enforced on 26 October due to safety and environmental concerns, as well as the landmark’s cultural significance to the traditional custodians of the land, the Anangu people.

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