The young woman who was trapped upside down between two boulders after falling into a crevice while trying to retrieve her phone has broken her silence about the terrifying ordeal.
Matilda Campbell, from Newcastle, NSW, became stuck in an S-shaped hole after dropping her phone while bushwalking with friends in the Hunter Valley.
Her friends tried in vain for about an hour to free Ms Campbell from the three-metre hole before calling emergency services to free her.
Photos from the rescue mission by NSW Ambulance paramedics showed nothing but Ms Campbell’s feet as she hung upside down after becoming trapped.
She was eventually released 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 they were released on Tuesday and Ms Campbell has now responded in good spirits on social media.
“Not my feet on display like that,” she posted on Facebook with a laughing emoji while sharing a news story about the Oct. 12 rescue mission.
‘It’s safe to say I’m the most accident-prone person ever. I’m doing well, I just have some injuries that I’m recovering from, no more rock exploration for me 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 fell into a crevice between two boulders
The ‘S’ shape of the three-metre-long dark hole made it impossible to pull Ms Campbell out (in the photo the Newcastle resident fell upside down, with her feet visible)
She added, “Crazy to believe it was me, but I’m doing well now that everything is almost healed!”
It took just over seven hours to free Ms Campbell, who miraculously suffered only minor scrapes and bruises, but she never recovered her phone.
Ms Campbell paid tribute to the team of workers who freed her and her comrades for caring for her.
“I wanted to give the biggest shoutout to my friends, the team that worked so hard to get me out,” she wrote.
“I’m forever grateful because most likely I wouldn’t be here today.
‘I love you and you mean the world to me.’
Emergency services had to remove a 500kg boulder to save the young woman
The joint rescue effort (pictured) lasted seven hours, but Mrs Campbell suffered only minor injuries
The shape of the hole prevented Ms Campbell from being simply lifted out, and rescuers spent more than an hour trying to navigate the cramped space.
Before they could get her out, they used a special winch to move a huge 500 kg boulder.
‘In my ten years as a rescue paramedic, I had never come across a job like this. It was challenging but incredibly rewarding,” Mr Watts said.
‘Every agency had a role and we all worked incredibly well together to achieve a good patient outcome.’