A Korean backpacker who’d been missing for a week after setting out on a bushwalk has been rescued from a ravine in far north Queensland, where she was trapped after falling from a popular lookout.
At around midday last Thursday, Joohee Han, 25, had been taking photos at Scout Rock lookout on Mount Tyson in Tully, a town south of Cairns, when she lost her footing and fell.
She told rescuers that she believed she lay unconscious for about five hours, before waking, disoriented and confused, and crawling through the bush until she reached a rocky waterfall at the bottom of a ravine.
Unable to climb out of the ravine, and unable to find her way back, Han remained at the waterfall with no food, in winter temperatures, for a whole week.
Queensland Ambulance flight paramedic Hannah Gaulke told the ABC, “Her chances of survival were near zero.”
Local authorities are calling Han’s survival a miracle, but Gaulke said that she remains surprisingly upbeat, despite still being in Tully Hospital, where she’s being treated for dehydration and scratches (she also lost a front tooth in the fall).
She was actually in really good condition, so she had no significant injuries – a number of abrasions and a few minor injuries – but otherwise she was in good spirits.
Han was winched to safety from a helicopter after rescue crews were unable to reach her on foot due to the treacherous terrain.
Fellow backpacker and noted Scottish bloke Craig Strathie has given an extremely good value interview to the ABC, expressing his relief at his hostel-mate’s rescue.
I mean, seven days up there – I’ve climbed that thing three times, two in a group and one myself and after I did it myself I said I would never be going up again.
I mean heck, I’m Scottish – we’ve got mountains all the time, but that thing can be pretty dangerous.
And she’s build like a garden gnome. Honestly, she’s about this high… and for that wee lassie… she actually waved them down apparently.
What a fucken legend.
