B.D.F. doctor injured in helicopter accident

The Belize Defence Force Medial Officer, Dr. Peter Craig was injured in a freak accident in Ladyville this morning. According to Colonel Hugh Cain, the B.D.F.’s public relations officer, since Monday of this week, Dr. Craig was on an exercise with the helicopter unit of the British Forces Support Training Unit. The exercise, known as rappelling, had Craig and other medical personnel sliding down a rope attached to a helicopter which hovered about a hundred feet in open air above an open field. News Five understands that Craig, had successfully done the exercise several times before, but apparently his luck ran out shortly after eleven o’clock this morning. According to Colonel Cain, as he was sliding down the rope, the yoke, a safety mechanism, broke away, causing Craig to fall thirty-five feet to the ground. As Dr. Craig landed, he broke his right ankle and injured his spinal cord. Craig was taken to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital and it is understood that with the help of BATSUB, will be flown out later tonight to a hospital in the United States. The exercise is one which army medical doctors undertake regularly in order to prepare them to be able to help wounded soldiers in battle situations. Because Dr. Craig was presently the only attending physician at B.D.F. hospital in Ladyville, the force will temporarily be using the services of doctors at the K.H.M.H. We here at Channel Five wish Dr. Craig a speedy recovery.