CANBERRA: A woman visiting the Australian outback with her family endured a revolting wait for rescue after she plunged into a pit full of human excrement when the toilet floor beneath her gave way.
According to media reports, she was trapped for three hours – literally deep in doodoo – while her family sought help.
The woman, who hails from Canberra, was travelling on Sunday (April 19) with her partner and two children, reported The Guardian Australia. They were visiting the Henbury meteorite crater, located about 145km south of the town of Alice Springs.
The toilet the woman was using, and fell in, is known as a long-drop toilet, which is a common style of latrine in remote areas. Unlike a regular toilet, it is a deep pit dug out to collect waste, connected to a toilet seat or squatting area.
When the woman entered the toilet, the rusty floor gave way beneath her, and she fell 2m into the pit, reported The New Zealand Herald.
A witness told NT News that she was seen standing up to her waist in human excrement: “There’s sh*t, literal nappies, piss, all in that hole.”
The witness said that the woman’s husband drove up the highway to seek help as cell phone reception as it was unavailable at the area, when a passing tradesman appeared and rescued the woman.
He tore down part of the wall and dismantled the toilet, before pulling her out of the hole using a tow rope attached to his car – although the rescue took an agonising 45 minutes, reported The Guardian.
According to the witness, the woman sustained only a few cuts, but was shaken by the experience, and was then taken to the hospital in Alice Springs.
NT WorkSafe, a body which regulates and enforces workplace health and safety in the Northern Territory, is investigating the incident, reported Australian news website news.com.au.
“NT WorkSafe has been notified of an incident where a tourist fell into a sewage pit at the Henbury Meteorites Conservation Zone,” the agency said in a statement, adding that “initial inquires indicate a toilet fell into the sewage pit, causing the tourist to also fall into the pit”.
“The notification was made by the agency with management of the conservation zone, as a collapse or partial collapse of a structure, which is a dangerous incident under the work health and safety laws,” it said. - The Straits Times/ANN
