Firefighters have been called in to help retrieve a woman who slipped and broke her leg on the Sublime Point walking track at Austinmer.
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Ariana Brell was walking down the popular Illawarra Escarpment trail with her friend, Kylie Grooby, when the accident happened about 8.45am on Friday.
Ms Brell, from Brisbane, was making room for a walker heading in the opposite direction when she lost her footing and fell a couple of metres.
“She’s kind of stood to the side of the steps to let him past and just put her foot on some loose dirt and slipped down,” Ms Grooby, from Dapto, told the Mercury.
“I was in front of her and I’ve heard a snap and that’s what actually made me turn around and then saw her on the ground.
“She said ‘I think I have broken my leg’, then she lifted up her leg with her arms and the bottom bit was just kind of bent where it shouldn’t be.”
The pair were only five minutes from completing the walk.
Ms Grooby alerted emergency services, with police, paramedics and a Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW) crew from Bulli responding.
The FRNSW team walked into the escarpment from the track’s Foothills Road entrance about 9.30am.
The firefighters, carrying a Stokes litter rescue basket, met paramedics at the scene and helped remove Ms Brell.
The 29-year-old was carried out of the track about 10.15am and loaded into a waiting ambulance.
Ms Brell was taken to Wollongong Hospital for treatment, where x-rays revealed she had snapped her left tibia and fibula.
Ms Grooby said her friend’s visit to the Illawarra would now be a little longer than planned, as she awaits word from the orthopedic surgeon about when surgery can go ahead.
“She was supposed to be flying back to Brisbane tonight [Friday night] for work tomorrow [Saturday],” she said.
Ms Grooby praised the emergency services for “a great job” during the rescue.
Two paramedics, two members of the public, four firefighters and one police officer helped carry Ms Brell down the steps.
“It was not easy getting her down,” Ms Grooby said.