The young woman who was trapped upside-down between two boulders after she fell into a crevice while trying to retrieve her phone has broken her silence over the terrifying ordeal.
Matilda Campbell, from Newcastle, NSW, was caught in an S-shaped hole after dropping her phone while bushwalking with friends in the Hunter Valley.
Her mates battled unsuccessfully to free Ms Campbell from the three-metre hole for about an hour before they called emergency services to free her.
Photos of the rescue mission by NSW ambulance paramedic specialists revealed nothing but Ms Campbell’s feet as she hung upside down after becoming trapped.
She was eventually released by a team led by paramedic Peter Watts who built a wooden frame around the area to hold the huge rocks out the way.
Photographs of the rescue mission went viral after they were released on Tuesday and Ms Campbell has now responded in good humour on social media.
‘Not my feet on display like that,’ she posted on Facebook with a laughing emoji as shared a news story about the October 12 rescue mission.
‘It’s safe to say I’m the most accident prone person ever. I am okay – just have some injuries I’m recovering from, no more rock exploration for me for a while!
Matilda Campbell from Newcastle (pictured) was bushwalking with friends in the Hunter Valley when she dropped her phone and tried to retrieve it – but fell into a crevice between two boulders
The ‘S’ shape of the three-metre dark hole made it impossible to pull Ms Campbell out (pictured the Newcastle resident fell in upside down, with her feet visible)
She added: ‘Crazy to believe it was me but I’m doing good now everything is nearly healed!’
It took just over seven hours to free Ms Campbell, who miraculously suffered only minor scratches and bruises – but she never retrieved her phone.
Ms Campbell paid tribute to the team of workers who freed her and her mates for looking after her.
‘I wanted to give the biggest shoutout to my friends, the team who worked so hard to get me out,’ she wrote.
‘I’m forever thankful as most likely I would not be here today.
‘I love you guys and you mean the world to me.’
Emergency services had to remove a 500 kg boulder to save the young woman
The joint rescue effort (pictured) took seven hours but Ms Campbell had only minor injuries
The shape of the hole prevented Ms Campbell from being simply lifted out, and rescuers spent over an hour trying to navigate through the tight space.
Before they could extract her, they used a special winch to move a massive 500kg boulder.
‘In my 10 years as a rescue paramedic I had never encountered a job quite like this, it was challenging but incredibly rewarding,’ Mr Watts said.
‘Every agency had a role, and we all worked incredibly well together to achieve a good outcome for the patient.’
