A young Australian widow has shared the heartbreaking moment she saw her husband fall off a cliff during a freak climbing accident in Canada.
Emma Heritage watched from just a few feet away as her husband Daniel, 28, lost his balance and slipped off a mountain in Banff National Park on Oct. 5, 2022.
The Adelaide couple had embarked on the trip of a lifetime when Daniel fell during a climbing expedition in the Canadian Rockies.
Ms Heritage said she felt the rope connecting them suddenly loosen, prompting her to turn around and watch Daniel fall.
“He landed near where I was, it just happened, he didn’t scream or make any noise,” the devastated widow said. The advertiser.
Ms Heritage said there was “a lot” of blood coming out of Daniel’s mouth and that… He lost consciousness very quickly after the fall.
She was able to call emergency services from where she was and stayed with her husband until paramedics arrived.
Ms Heritage said she knew Daniel was dead when rescuers said they planned to get her down the mountain before him.
Adelaide woman Emma Heritage (left) has detailed for the first time the terrifying moment her husband Daniel (right) fell while climbing in the Canadian Rockies.
Ms Heritage witnessed the horrific moment Daniel (pictured) slipped and fell off a cliff.
“I think that was probably one of the most heartbreaking moments for me because I had to walk away from him,” she said.
Ms Heritage had to relive the trauma in the days following the accident as the coroner relied on her account as the only witness.
The coroner’s report was supposed to rule out…‘foul play’ specifically.
To make matters worse, Ms Heritage discovered her travel insurance did not cover accidental death, meaning she would need tens of thousands of dollars to return Daniel’s body to Australia.
She said her “biggest concern” was getting her husband back to his family, but without a $12,000 deposit no funeral home would accept him.
Fortunately, Mr. Heritage’s mother was able to pay the deposit immediately.
Ms Heritage (right) said she knew Daniel (left) was dead when rescuers said they planned to get her down the cliff before him.
Mrs Heritage had to pay $8,000 to bring her husband back to Adelaide and another $15,000 for his funeral.
Her twin sister, Jessica, raised $42,830 of the $50,000 needed to pay for the arrangements with a GoFundMe Campaign.
“The death was very traumatic for Emma, who witnessed the accident and held him in her arms as he passed away,” Jessica wrote at the time.
‘‘Please continue to pray for Emma and our families as we go through this lifelong grief.’
When Ms Heritage was finally able to fly back to Australia, she felt conflicted about having to leave the place where she last saw her husband alive.
Ms. Heritage said she returned to the scene in 2023 and was left frustrated and confused about how her husband could have died there.
She returned to the exact spot where Daniel had died in 2023 and even climbed the same cliff again to try to understand how he had lost his balance.
“I went back up to the spot where it happened. I thought it would be very emotional and I would be in tears, but it was actually frustration that I felt when I climbed up above where he fell,” Heritage said.
She explained that the frustration came from not being able to understand why Daniel had fallen when the climb was within his skill level.
Ms Heritage has since tried to stop obsessing over how the tragedy happened, saying she has accepted his death and will simply continue to miss him.