Kiwi injured in Kon-Tiki rescue

CHILE – New Zealand Maori Lisa Te Heuheu, one of the Kon-Tiki2 crew members, was injured when being evacuated from one of the ill-fated expedition’s balsawood rafts, according to reports from the abandoned expedition’s website.

“When evacuating from Rahiti, she got her foot between the rescue ship’s ladder and the raft,” fellow crew member Liv Arnesen wrote,

“ I was already on the deck and could hear her scream far under me, but then she started to climb as nothing had happend until she was halfway up when I understood something was wrong and called to our Dr. Sergey Orlovs attention. Lisa was probably in shock with the pain and the adrenaline made her manage the climb.

“As the pictures tell, Lisa takes most things with a positive attitude and a smile. How she has taken the accident and her possibly broken foot have impressed us all.”

The Chilean Navy ship Piloto Pardo arrived in the port of Talcahuano, near Conception, in on Monday. All Kon-Tiki2 crew members were on board.

While still at sea, but with cellphone connectivity, Expedition leader Torgeir Higraff expressed heartfelt sadness for not arriving by raft, as he has been planning for years.

However, he also expressed gratitude for everyone being safe thanks to the Chilean navy and the Japanese merchant ship Hokietsu Ushaka which initially came to their rescue.

The crew has since transferred to a hotel in Talcahuano where the were reportedly enjoying good meals, prepared on land for the first time in 74 days.

After two days on the cargo ship Hokietsu Ushaka, the Kon-Tiki 2 crew and their scientific equipment were transferred to the Chilean the coast guard ship Pilot Pardo.

“We have been rescued twice this week and I think my fellow Kon-Tiki2 crew members share my opinion that both rescue operations were perfectly executed,” Higraff wrote on the website while still at sea.

“My gratitude goes firstly to Captain Yun Sun Gug from South Korea who made us feel home on Hokietsu Ushaka. He was rescued himself in the Indian Ocean 41 years ago when his ship sank early in his career.

“On Pilot Pardo we had chicken for lunch and were served wine, rested in good beds and enjoyed Chilean professional rescue standards. These men really know what they are doing.’

The Kon-Tiki2 Expedition decided to end the expedition after 114 days and 4500 nautical miles in the South-East Pacific.

The goal of the expedition had been to show that balsa rafts could sail from South America to Easter Island and back. The Expedition reached Easter Island but the return voyage proved more difficult due to atypical winds. - PNC