Australian Story The River Part 1

When a Lithuanian rafter became trapped in rapids on Tasmania's Franklin River late last year, it made headlines around the world. Now, Australian Story can reveal dramatic details of the 24-hour rescue attempt, drawing on never-before-seen footage taken by rescuers and the fellow rafters.

When emergency services were first alerted that a man had slipped and was trapped up to his chest in fast-running water, they thought it would be a relatively easy job to remove him. But it turned into one of the most complex rescue missions in Tasmania's history.

"How does someone's leg go into a crack and not come out; like surely there's a way, there's always a way," paramedic Rohan tells Australian Story. "And there wasn't."

Over two episodes, Australian Story provides a heart-stopping account of the rescue mission, as rescuers and doctors raced against the clock to free the rafter's leg.

As the hours passed and the trapped rafter became dangerously hypothermic, rescuers had to consider the possibility of amputation. "I felt so conflicted," Rohan says. "I'd never, ever had to hurt someone to save their life. If this goes ahead, you might kill him. But even if even if it all goes perfectly, he'll never be the same guy again."

With all rescue attempts failing, the decision was made to amputate. And that's when there was what rescuers call "an incident within an incident". The doctor who was preparing to perform the difficult operation slipped on the wet rock and broke his wrist.

With the trapped rafter's condition rapidly worsening and a replacement doctor hours away, hopes began to fade.

Australian Story interviewed rescuers, medical personnel and the rafters, in Tasmania and Lithuania, to provide a nail-biting anatomy of an astonishing mission.

Producer: Robyn Powell.

Monday 30 June, 8pm on ABC TV and ABC iview