With legs ‘snapped in half’, Australian hiker crawled two days to safety

Parker "cartwheeled and slammed into the rock and then landed in the creek at the bottom" after which the entire bottom half of his leg was hanging loose thanks to a "clean snap in half".

Australian hiker crawled two days to safety with legs 'snapped in half'

Neil Parker, 54, spoke to reporters from the hospital bed after his rescue (Screen grab)

An Australian hiker said he had to crawl for two days to safety after he tumbled down a waterfall, snapping his legs in two. Neil Parker, 54, said his planned three-hour hike northwest of Brisbane went horribly wrong Sunday when he slipped six metres (20 feet) down the waterfall, fracturing his leg and wrist.

Parker “cartwheeled and slammed into the rock and then landed in the creek at the bottom” after which the entire bottom half of his leg was hanging loose thanks to a “clean snap in half”, AFP reported.

With only a handful of nuts, a protein bar and some lollies with him, Parker began the journey “carrying” his legs, “scrambling and lifting, inch-by-inch” to the clearing.

He had dropped his mobile “into the drink” and hadn’t informed anyone where he was. “Straight away, I thought, ‘I’m now in a lot of trouble because no-one knows where I am”. Using hiking sticks to splint his legs, Parker started crawling back to a clearing where he believed he would have a better chance of being rescued.

The experienced hiker said it took him two days to crawl down to where the helicopters could rescue him. “What took me 40 minutes to walk up took me nearly two days to crawl back down,” he told reporters from his hospital bed. Parker was eventually spotted by the helicopter and winched out on Tuesday afternoon.

He saw a search-and-rescue helicopter flying overhead Sunday night, but knew there was no chance of them finding him as he was “deep under the scrub”.

Parker — who founded a bushwalking (hiking) club and has helped rescue other stranded hikers in the past — said knowledge had been instrumental to his survival, as he had set out well prepared with items such as bandages, a compass, and even a sleeping bag.

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But it was the thought of his family, including his estranged son, that pushed him to keep going. “The family connection, to let them know that I’m OK, just kept driving me,” he said, adding that he would now be reunited with his son after several years of distance between them. “I wanted to be around for my kids.”

(Inputs from AFP)

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