ABC journo, retired GP and nurse rush to help woman after bone-breaking fall at WA gorge

A woman has spent the night at a remote gorge after breaking her leg at a popular tourist site in far north Western Australia.

The woman, 52, was holidaying with her husband and climbing a ledge in the lower sections of Bell Gorge, 2,400 kilometres north of Perth, when she slipped off the edge at about 11:30am on Sunday.

Witnesses reported hearing the woman’s leg snap and hearing screams after she fell.

A travelling retired GP and a nurse who administered first aid were among those who assisted the woman.

They secured her leg with a snakebite splint and stayed with her for several hours until more help arrived.

Several members of the public managed to make contact with emergency services via beacons and satellite phones.

But extra assistance was hours away due to the gorge, situated on the remote Gibb River Road, being nearly 300km from the nearest town of Fitzroy Crossing.

ABC Pilbara‘s Verity Gorman was at the scene and sat with the woman while maintaining contact with emergency services.

Members of the woman’s family made their way back to the car park to alert rangers and bring in supplies.

“I had no phone reception but I thought I’d try taking my phone off aeroplane mode and called 000 and it directed me to the service that allows you to message emergency services,” Gorman said.

“The nurse and the retired GP did an amazing job helping the woman and monitoring her condition.

A ranger and paramedic arrived several hours later and were able to provide pain relief.

An anaesthetist visiting the gorge from Perth helped get the woman onto a stretcher after strapping her leg.

Overnight stay

Kimberley Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES) superintendent Leon Gardiner told ABC Kimberley the woman was en route to Broome on Monday morning after spending the night at the gorge alongside emergency staff.

A Broome SES team was flown to an airstrip near the gorge and hiked down to where the woman was to help with the chopper rescue.

The helicopter arrived at about 6:30pm on Sunday.

It took about1.5 hours for SES volunteers to arrive on ground near the scene and reach the location, where they remained with the injured woman.

“There were medical crews with the casualty overnight, along with our crews providing a level of support and, as I understand it, her condition was stable through all of that,” Mr Gardiner said.

He said the situation was a reminder for travellers to exercise vigilance.

“The challenges of some of these locations through the Kimberley – the remoteness, the ability to communicate and get to these locations in a timely manner – present a range of challenges,” Mr Gardiner said.

He said essentials included communication, first aid supplies, plenty of food and water and the means to alert authorities in areas with no phone reception, such as a satellite phone or emergency beacon.