Dramatic rescue after woman drops phone
A woman found herself in a rough spot after slipping into a 3m crevice after dropping her phone in northern NSW.
The 23-year-old was hiking with her friends in the Hunter Valley on October 12 when she accidentally dropped her phone into a plunging crevice on a Laguna property in Cessnock.
The woman leant down to try and retrieve her phone, but fell face first and plunged 3m into the crevice.
Left hanging on only by her feet, her friends desperately tried to pull her out of the rocks, but an hour later, they were unsuccessful. Without her phone to call for help and no reception, her friends called Triple 0 for assistance.
Blocking their way were large boulders, which required NSW Ambulance specialist rescue paramedic Peter Watts to call other multidisciplinary specialists to remove the enormous rocks out of the way, which weighed 500kg, and install a hardwood frame to ensure stability and rescue the woman.
The woman’s feet then became accessible, but the fight was far from over.
Rescue team members then had to assist the woman escaping the narrow “S” bend she had found herself in, with rescue teams taking over an hour to navigate her out of the tight spot.
Seven hours after first slipping through the cracks of the rocky surface, and with the help of a specialised Tirfor winch and plenty of teamwork, she was finally freed and back on solid ground.
Sadly, she never got her phone back.
It was one of the most unique rescue missions the team had experienced.
“In my 10 years as a rescue paramedic I had never encountered a job quite like this, it was challenging but incredibly rewarding,” said Mr Watts. “Every agency had a role, and we all worked incredibly well together to achieve a good outcome for the patient.”
The 23-year-old said while she was incredibly lucky to only receive a few cuts and bruises from the entire ordeal, it’s unlikely she’ll be going back for another bushwalk.
“It’s safe to say I’m the most accident-prone person ever,” she wrote online. “I am okay, just have some injuries I‘m recovering from, no more rock exploration for me for a while.”