Australian Hiker With Broken Leg Finally Rescued

Tarak Malhotra Staff Reporter- The Pawprint

While bushwalking in Brisbane, Australia, Neil Parker, 54 tripped and fell down a 20 foot waterfall, breaking his wrist and snapping his leg clean in half. Parker lost his phone in the process, forcing him to have to crawl to move. 

“I’d get about a metre, a metre-and-a-half, each time before I had to stop and take a break,” said the Australian native to reporters. When asked about whether or not he thought he would live, Parker replied “I just couldn’t believe it. It’s only 3km but [it took] two days to cover 3km. I was thinking that I was never going to get there.”

Initially, Parker had planned a 3-hour hike up Mount Nebo, when the rocks under him gave way and he plummeted down a 6 meter waterfall, crashing into the water below. “I slid about 20 feet, cartwheeled and slammed into the rock and then landed in the creek on the bottom,” he said. 

Fortunately, Parker had access to a first aid kit which he used to splint his leg, along with the hiking sticks. Parker said he was “scrambling and lifting, inch-by-inch” to get out of the wilderness and into the clearing. Since his leg was snapped, Parker recounts he had to almost “carry” his leg, since it was not connected to the rest of his body. Parker was spotted by a helicopter after 2 strenuous days in isolation with a snapped leg and broken wrist.