A 23-year-old woman was trapped upside down between two boulders for hours after trying to retrieve her phone in the New South Wales (NSW) Hunter Valley.
Matilda Campbell was hiking with friends in Laguna, Australia, in early October when she dropped her phone while snapping photos, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). While attempting to retrieve the device, Campbell slipped and fell nearly 10 feet (nine meters) and became lodged upside down between two boulders.
Campbell’s friends attempted to free her as there was no cell service in the area, according to a NSW Ambulance Facebook Post. After multiple unsuccessful attempts, her friends were eventually able to call Triple Zero (000). The Cessnock Volunteer Rescue Association and Rural Fire Service were the first to respond, and they in tern called in law enforcement and paramedics, according to ABC. (RELATED: REPORT: American Man Trying To Record Video Falls 50 Feet Head First Off Cliff While Hiking)
NSW Ambulance Specialist Rescue Paramedic Peter Watts worked alongside the responding paramedics to remove “several heavy boulders to create a safe access point” and building a hardwood frame to keep the area stable as officials got to work, the post read.
After clearing the area around Campbell’s feet, officials had to navigate her out of the tight opening, which took them approximately an hour.
The rescuers were eventually able to move the over 1,100-pound boulder (500 kilograms) and free Campbell, who had been trapped for seven hours.
“In my 10 years as a rescue paramedic I had never encountered a job quite like this, it was challenging but incredibly rewarding,” Watts said in the Facebook post.
Campbell walked away from the incident with minor bruising and scratches and had lost her phone, officials said.
Watts told ABC that Campbell was in good spirits despite the situation.
“She was such a trooper,” he told the outlet. “I would have been beside myself stuck in that sort of situation, but when we were there she was calm, she was collected, anything we asked her to do she was able to do it to help us get her out.”
“its 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!” Campbell wrote on Facebook after the incident.
“i wanted to give the biggest shoutout to my friends, the team who worked so hard to get me out i’m forever thankful as most likely i would not be here today,” she said in a later post.
This article was originally published at dailycaller.com
