Young woman trapped upside down for seven hours in rock crevice when she tried to retrieve her phone is reunited with rescuers

The young woman was trapped upside down between two boulders for seven hours and has been reunited with her rescuers who rescued her.

Matilda Campbell, 23, from Newcastle, NSW, was hiking in the Hunter Valley earlier this month and got stuck when she tried to retrieve her mobile phone from the hole in the rocks.

Ms Campbell was reunited with her rescuers on Tuesday at Rutherford Ambulance Station in Maitland, north of Sydney.

“Without them I wouldn’t be here today, so I’m very, very grateful and appreciate the services and wonderful people that we have,” Ms Campbell told reporters.

The terrifying ordeal began when Ms Campbell’s phone slid off a cliff as she sat with a friend enjoying the view.

But when she reached down to retrieve her device. she fell headfirst between the boulders in an awkward position and became stuck.

Mrs Campbell tried in vain to squeeze back out, but soon realized she was stuck.

Her feet were wedged between two large boulders and she was hanging upside down.

First responder Jason Sattler told the ABC: ‘What we were dealing with was just… two foot soles and it looked like they were floating in the air because she had dark trousers on and it was quite dark in the crevice of the rock ‘

Friends spent about an hour trying to save Ms Campbell, but eventually called for help.

NSW Ambulance Specialist Rescue Paramedic Peter Watts led a team who began building a hardwood frame around the area before beginning the arduous task of removing the bricks.

Photos from the rescue mission showed the soles of Ms Campbell’s feet as she hung upside down in the dark crevice.

Mrs Campbell was stuck in a tight S-bend, meaning she could not simply be lifted out. Rescuers spent more than an hour trying to navigate the cramped space.

“The scrape on my side started to hurt… and there were sticks in my hair, there was dirt everywhere, I could see spiders in the distance,” she said.

‘It was very intense not being able to do anything with my body and realizing that I was really stuck.’

One of the first responders on the scene was from the Volunteer Rescue Association (VRA) Cessnock crew.

Jason Sattler told it ABC“What we were dealing with was just…two foot soles and it looked like they were floating in the air because she had dark pants on and it was quite dark in the crevice of the rock.”

Mr Sattler said if she had not been with a friend who alerted rescuers, the situation could easily have turned fatal due to exposure to the elements and starvation.

In a painstaking operation to gain access to Ms Campbell, crews had to remove seven boulders weighing between 80 and 500 kilograms

In a painstaking operation to gain access to Ms Campbell, crews had to remove seven boulders weighing between 80 and 500 kilograms.

Following her horrific ordeal, Mrs Campbell spent three days in Newcastle’s John Hunter Hospital.

She was treated for serious abrasions to her face, hip, back and shoulder and a broken vertebra.

Ms Campbell said she was relatively lucky.

“I could have hit my head, I could have broken a bone, I was really grateful I didn’t do that because that would have made it a lot harder to get me out,” she said.

‘To be honest, I can’t believe I haven’t had more injuries.’

Ms Campbell was philosophical about the loss of her phone.

“Phones are replaceable, but your life is not,” she said.

Last week, Ms Campbell posted on social media to thank well-wishers.

“I just wanted to thank everyone from literally all over the world for sending me a message to see that they’re happy that I’m safe and well!” Mrs. Campbell wrote.

‘It means a lot to me to have so much support after a very traumatic incident.’