An Australian woman got stuck upside down in a rocky crevice after making a silly but relatable mistake

A lost cell phone led to a scary situation in Australia, where 23-year-old Matilda Campbell became trapped between two boulders after falling nearly 10 feet into a rocky crevice. Campbell, who was hiking with friends, got stuck after attempting to retrieve her dropped phone.

Campbell and her friends were reportedly outside cell phone service area in New South Wales, Australia, when Campbell lost her phone while taking pictures. She tried to crawl after it into the narrow space between two boulders to reach it but slipped and fell, where she was trapped upside down for hours. Pictures showed Campbell’s bare feet sticking out of the crevice. Her friends tried to rescue Campbell for more than an hour before hiking to where they could call for help.

A “challenging” but “rewarding” rescue

According to the BBC, emergency services at the scene had to carefully stabilize the area where Campbell was trapped, while also moving at least one 1,000-lb boulder using a specialized winch. Only then could she be freed from the “S” bend in the crevice where she was stuck. The team also constructed a wooden frame to keep the area secure while they worked. “In my 10 years as a rescue paramedic, I had never encountered a job quite like this,” Australian first responder Peter Watts said, describing the successful operation. “It was challenging but incredibly rewarding.”

According to Watts, Campbell remained calm throughout her ordeal. “She was such a trooper,” Watts said. “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.”

Campbell, who never retrieved her phone, later thanked her rescuers on social media. “Thank you to the team who saved me,” her post said. “You guys are literally lifesavers … too bad about the phone, though,” she added.

Campbell was scratched and bruised, but fine

Thankfully, everything turned out alright, and Campbell escaped with just a few scratches and bruises. And hey, we get it, getting a new phone is a hassle, but there are some situations when you really should just let it go. Once she was safely home, Campbell shared on Facebook, “its safe to say i’m the most accidental prone person ever. I am okay just have some injuries i’m recovering from, no more rock exploration for me for a while!” In another post, she added, “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. I love you guys and you mean the world to me.”

Campbell’s predicament carried the risk of getting crushed by the boulders, but there’s danger also in spending so much time hanging upside down. According to Healthline, hanging upside down for more than just a few minutes can cause blood pressure to spike and slow heart rate. In some cases, blood will pool in the head, which can be fatal.