Hiker lost for six nights without food speaks about ordeal
The Korean tourist who spent six nights lost in Far North Queensland bushland, injured, scared and with no food, told of how she begged to make it through another sunrise each day.
Joohee Han has spoken exclusively to 7 News, describing how she spent days hanging from a cliff and the moment she realised she’d been found.
The 25-year-old set off for a hike on Mount Tyson Friday before last.
She took a photo from the lookout and posted it on social media – not knowing it would be almost a week before she would have contact with anyone again.
She slipped and fell, and was knocked unconscious, then spent the next three days hanging from a cliff.
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“I get lost and slip off the rock and fell down three storey cliffs.”
She lost a tooth during her ordeal, and was too embarrassed to talk on camera, but still wanted to tell her story.
For the first time, she shared with 7 News an extraordinary account of what happened, and how she survived for almost a week in the wilderness.
From her hospital bed on Saturday, a soft voice tells an incredible story of strength and survival.
“I keep thinking I just want to live, I just want to live,” Ms Han said of the ordeal.
“One, two, three days, I think about my friends, life my family. And four, five six day only food,” the hiker thought, while fearing for her life.
“I almost died from cold. Every night I pray, sunrise please, sunrise – yes.”
She managed to make her way to a ledge near a waterfall, where she drank from a rock face until another hiker told police she heard screams.
There was a massive search, before a rescue helicopter winched her safety.
Her first food in days was a cookie given to her by rescuers, whom she sincerely thanked for saving the life she thought would be lost.
