A woman became trapped upside down between two boulders for seven hours while trying to retrieve her mobile phone during a hike in Australia’s Hunter Valley region.
The incident occurred earlier this month when the woman lost her phone and attempted to recover it. After she got stuck, her friends called emergency services for assistance after failing to free her from the large rocks.
Rescue workers faced a “challenging” task, requiring them to winch a 500kg boulder aside and navigate the complexities of extracting her from the ‘S’ shaped position she was in.
Peter Watts, a paramedic with the New South Wales Ambulance service, shared on social media, “In my 10 years as a rescue paramedic, I had never encountered a job quite like this; it was challenging but incredibly rewarding.”
Photos posted by the ambulance service on Facebook depicted her hanging between the boulders by her feet, along with the rescue efforts to safely move the boulders to free her once the area was stable.
In an interview with ABC Australia, Mr. Watts expressed, “We were all like, how did you get down there – and how are we going to get her out?”
Despite being stuck for several hours, the woman sustained only minor injuries and scratches. Unfortunately, both she and the emergency services were unable to recover her mobile phone.