The young woman who was trapped face down between two rocks after falling into a crevice while trying to retrieve her phone has broken her silence about the ordeal.
Matilda Campbell, from Newcastle, New South Wales, was trapped in an S-shaped hole after dropping her phone while walking with friends in the Hunter Valley.
Her companions struggled unsuccessfully to free Campbell from the three-metre hole for about an hour before calling emergency services to free her.
Photos of the rescue mission taken by NSW Ambulance paramedic specialists revealed nothing other than Ms Campbell’s feet as she dangled upside down after becoming trapped.
She was eventually freed by a team led by paramedic Peter Watts, who built a wooden frame around the area to keep the huge rocks out of the way.
Photos from the rescue mission went viral after being posted on Tuesday and Campbell has now responded in good humor on social media.
“My feet don’t show off like that,” he posted on Facebook with a laughing emoji while sharing news about the Oct. 12 rescue mission.
‘It’s safe to say that I am the most accident-prone person. I’m fine, just a few injuries I’m recovering from, no more rock exploring for a while!
Matilda Campbell from Newcastle (pictured) was walking with friends in the Hunter Valley when she dropped her phone and tried to retrieve it, but it fell into a crack between two rocks.
The ‘S’ shape of the three-metre dark hole made it impossible to get Ms Campbell out (pictured, the Newcastle resident fell face down, with her feet visible)
He added: ‘It’s crazy to believe it was me, but I’m fine now that everything is almost healed!’
It took just over seven hours to free Ms Campbell, who miraculously only suffered minor scratches and bruises, but never recovered her phone.
Campbell paid tribute to the team of workers who freed her and her colleagues to care for her.
“I wanted to congratulate my friends, the team that worked so hard to get me out,” he wrote.
‘I will be forever grateful because chances are I wouldn’t be here today.
“I love you guys and you mean the world to me.”
Emergency services had to remove a 500kg rock to save the young woman
The joint rescue effort (pictured) lasted seven hours but Ms Campbell only suffered minor injuries.
The shape of the hole prevented Ms Campbell from being simply pulled out, and rescuers spent more than an hour trying to navigate through the narrow space.
Before they could extract it, they used a special winch to move a huge 500kg rock.
“In my 10 years as a rescue paramedic I have never encountered a job like this – it was challenging but incredibly rewarding,” Watts said.
“Each agency had a role and we all worked incredibly well together to achieve a good outcome for the patient.”