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A woman in Australia faced a dramatic situation when she became trapped upside down for seven hours while trying to retrieve her lost phone from a crevice between boulders in the Hunter Valley region. The incident occurred earlier this month as the 23-year-old was walking with friends in Laguna, about 75 miles from Sydney. She dropped her phone and, while attempting to get it back, slipped into a deep gap measuring about 10 feet, making it impossible for her friends to reach her.
The location had no phone signal, forcing her friends to leave her to call for help. Rescue teams, including police, ambulance, fire, and volunteer crews, arrived on the scene. Specialist rescue paramedic Peter Watts, who had never encountered a situation quite like this, said they had to use a combination of techniques from various rescue training protocols.
When the rescuers first arrived, only the woman's feet were visible through a narrow gap in the rocks. They realized that the only way to get her out was to remove several large boulders surrounding her. The delicate rescue operation involved careful planning to ensure that moving the rocks wouldn't cause further harm to her. Throughout the seven-hour effort, rescuers worked meticulously to shift six large boulders, all while advising the woman to remain still to avoid slipping further down the crevice.
As time passed, rescuers managed to access her feet, but they faced challenges with a particularly heavy boulder weighing about 1,100 pounds. They used a winch to remove this boulder before they could finally start maneuvering her body to pull her out. The team had to navigate her body in an “S” shape to safely extract her from the hole.
Eventually, at around 4:30 p.m., the woman was freed and felt immense relief. Although she was dizzy and exhausted from being upside down for so long, she suffered only minor scratches and bruises. Following her rescue, she was taken to the hospital for observation. Sadly, her phone remains stuck between the rocks, highlighting the bizarre turn of events that led to her ordeal.
.@CNNTravel: Woman wedged upside down between rocks in Australia for 7 hours after trying to retrieve her phone. @hilary_whiteman has the details: https://t.co/qSqwZerwmR
— CNN Asia Pacific PR (@cnnasiapr) October 23, 2024
[Source: CNN]
