E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS
Ambulance Service Of NSW/Handout / EPA
Debbie McKnight was trapped for three days in her car after the vehicle plunged down an embankment on Christmas Day in Tumut, Australia.
A woman who crashed her car on Christmas Day survived for three days with her leg pinned in the wreckage after it plunged down an embankment in southern Australia, according to local reports.
Debbie McKnight, 45, was driving home from her daughter's house in Tumut, New South Wales, when she swerved to avoid a kangaroo and the vehicle left the road. Her car flipped and landed on its roof 26 feet below, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.
Teenager Caleb Wilks found her late Wednesday when he walked past the wreck and heard her screaming for help, Sky News Australia reported.
"Otherwise we wouldn't have found her," Sergeant Brian Hammond told Sky.
'She was so desperate'
McKnight was flown to Canberra Hospital where surgeons amputated her leg. She was listed in stable condition.
"She was so desperate she was actually going to cut off her leg herself but she couldn't find anything sharp enough," Hammond said.
Ambulance Service Of NSW/Handout / EPA
Paramedics at the scene of the crash in Tumut, Australia.
The Ambulance Service of New South Wales said the pressure from the car on her leg likely acted as a tourniquet and stopped any life-threatening bleeding.
Tumut's mayor John Larter told the Sydney Morning Herald that McKnight was fortunate to have survived.
"As anyone would be in a vehicle lying upside-down for three days over Christmas, I imagine anyone would have been distressed," Larter said. "You'd be missing your family over Christmas and I suppose you'd be wondering when somebody was going to come and rescue you."
Leave a Comment:
Ya think???? Just love the British way of putting things. Somehow, I think I'd be more "distressed" about being found...PERIOD!!! And before you all jump on me, I know it's in Australia, but the British influence is still there.
It is ok, I think Australia is part of Great Britain and if they are not, does it really matter? I mean it is Australia.
She lost a leg, but I bet she is going to have a Happy New Year.
Actually, my reaction was about the same, Christmas time or not, I'd wanna really, REALLY be found alive if I survived the 26ft fall.
Good grief, don't families ever chk on each other any more??? All of our family members chk on each other daily just about....I can't believe the daughter never checked with her mother to see if she did in fact make it home safely...
Agreed, dano.
Our rule is "Call me when you get home.", and each of us does that.
I'm sure families can get caught up in what is going on around the holidays, but she was there three days. No blame here, but I know I would've checked.
this sucks
How do you know the family wasn't checking for her? The article doesn't state anything about that. It merely speaks about the accident and the poor woman being trapped then finally being found. Just because the article doesn't speak of it doesn't mean the family was just merrily celebrating without so much as a thought about her. I'm sure they were looking for her. Just so happy that she was found.
There is always quite a bit of the story that gets left out with these news reports. I don't see anywhere that says that her daughter DIDN'T bother to call and check in or know that her mother was missing. So before anyone starts on the whole how did her family not know bit... wait until you hear one way or another before you start a discussion about it and criticize the family. My opinion on it is that thankfully she didn't have anything sharp enough to cut off her own leg! That would have been extremely dumb for her to do all that, cut her leg off and free herself only to die from losing so much blood while she tried to climb/crawl her way up to the road and wait for someone to come by.
She is a very lucky woman to even be alive. Sadly the injury resulted in her losing her leg, but she still has breath, and can go forward with her life. I hope she has a FABULOUS New Year ahead of her.
Happy ending to a sad story. I feel for her.
Makes me want to weep.
Next time just hit the kangaroo.
that makes it hopping mad...
Better yet ... slow down. Kangaroos in Australia are the American equivalent of Deer. Meaning you never know when one will pop out of the bushes into on coming traffic, Maybe they have a death wish and what to take out a car in the process?
Ask any driver who has ever hit a deer (or worse; an Elk or Moose) at speed. They have a tendency to land in the windshield - been known to kill the driver, anyone in the front seating area.
If you were talking about a squirrel, dog, cat, armadillo, possum - yeah, go ahead ... hit 'em!... But over 200 - 300 lbs, (Moose: the biggest member of the deer family run into the 1000 lb + range), hitting one, at speed - that 's not such a good idea.
The good thing, the main thing - she is alive and lived to nag her husband for another day, and now has a "War story" to match anything he is likely to fream up.
@please understand,
May have been a pink elephant ??? Alcohol involved ??
Laughing at the note in your post questioning why the teen was walking in that area, probably up to no good! Sounds like Nancy Disgrace to me, lol. She always knows the answer to her questions before she asks! Do you suppose he might have been hunting? A perfectly legit pastime in Rural Aussie country. Not all teens are just naturally "born to be bad" ya know!
It was meant to humorous... although, I'll admit,when I was a teen-I usually was up to some mischief. I was not the type to need a bunch of friends to get into trouble.
I was perfectly capable of doing something unintentionally stupid with out any assistance at all. I figured it was easier to tell a convincing story without any conflicting witnesses to either blackmail me later or spill the beans when they got caught ...using me as fall guy. I figured it was better to work out all the stupid early in life. :)
This kid screwwed up,royally... by doing something helpful... he'll never live that down.
Wouldn't her daughter be worried when the mother didn't call her to let her know she made it home safely? I make my friends let me know when they make it home, even if they only live a few miles away.
I am very glad she is alive and well though.
I'm glad she is alive and everything came out ok, (except her leg) but just one thing, don't they have cell phones in Austrailia!!!! Nothing was mentioned of her trying to call anyone...
A/noon Grabber..Yes we have mobile phones in Australia just like in the States. But there are many black spots where you have no reception...so she may not have been able to use it even if she had one on her.
Did she have a cell phone
LA1IMPALA,
I wondered bout that 2???
I'm thinking even if she did have a cell phone - she'd just gone over a 26' embankment, the car has rolled at least once and is up-side down, and she can't move around because her leg is pinned. A cell phone would probably have been in her purse or maybe on the passenger seat, and under those circumstances who knows where the purse or phone would have ended up - if it even remained inside the car? Chances are pretty good it was mixed in with the wreckage and other interior car parts, and quite likely out of reach even if it had been readily visible.
I found it kinda odd that no one was looking for her. Would you not call your Mother to make sure she reached home safely after visiting you? And if you do not hear from her in three days, would you not call the police? Especially during the holidays? I would have called the police after one day of not hearing from her. I find it very odd but thankfully she made it out alive.
The story doesn't say that she hadn't been missed or that no one was looking for her. Just because it isn't mentioned doesn't mean it didn't happen. They just hadn't found her at that point.
I live in a small rural-ish community in central Wisconsin, and we had a lady go missing several years ago. She was on her way home from a party (had not been drinking) in the winter time, only had a couple of miles to go, but never showed up at home. There were search parties with helicopters, on snowmobiles, on horseback, walking, with scent dogs - the whole shebang. We searched for weeks.
She was finally found MONTHS later, after the snow melted off her car. Like this Aussie lady, her car was also upside-down, and had gone down an embankment, although not as far as this Aussie lady. Unfortunately, we did not have the relatively happy ending that this story had.
She was very lucky the Dingo did not eat her
LOL
post 613,
is obama smoking a cigar in that pic, or is your dog the best potty trained k-9 ive ever seen, lmao thats hilarious..
Dingos eat tender babies... too hard to carry off full-size humans. After 3 days in the car - upside down... pretty sure it was getting pretty "ripe" in that car.
You have to think, most of our systems run on a 24 hour schedule?
It is a dog with good aim !
Love It !!! LMAO
@Beoweolf,
I bet she knows the true meaning of "s--t runs downhill" LOL
Lucky kangaroo!
Debbie McKnight 45, will be changing her name to Ilene :)
she swerved to miss a kangaroo, folks dont swerve to miss animals on the road, that creates a much more dangerous situation as you can see here. remember humans are atop the food chain, maybe kanga meat tastes good...
In fact it tasts like a cross between chicken and beef
Horsepucky..You swerve to miss a roo if you can.. a roo is like a cow coming straight thru your windscreen, and the chances of surviving are not great. Roo's are not little fluffy things they stand 6t foot tall and if it is an Eastern Grey larger...they are a solid animals and to be avoided at all costs. Unless you are truck driver with a bull bar on the front, then not a problem.
It's just a human reaction, Beoweolf, to swerve your car rather than hit some poor animal that doesn't know any better. Maybe if people look at the animal crossing signs on the sides of roads, these accidents can be avoided. I've had a deer run out in front of my car but because I noticed a "deer crossing" sign before it ran out in front of me, I slowed down to 20mph and was able to stop in time.
You 'er a good man...Charley Brown!
the road is a way to get from here to there ... not just an irritation to be removed, tolerated ... too many of us put our minds on auto pilot never even notice what is happening outside the windows and doors.
Most people focus no farther than 10 feet in front of their car and at hi-way speeds you might as well drive with your eyes closed.
I would like to Know how they get the deer to cross the road at the sign. Do they have crossing guards? Or do they get ticketed for jaywalking?
Good thing those marauding bands of road warriers didn't steel her gasolene. "Remember the Night Rider!"
"The Ambulance Service of New South Wales said the pressure from the car on her leg likely acted as a tourniquet and stopped any life-threatening bleeding."
It also prevented her from crawling back up the hill to try to flag down help and also more than likely cut off circulation resulting in amputation. I don't see the strong benefit here.
The mention of "life-threatening bleeding" inclines me to believe there may have been other injuries to the leg, and without the circulation cut off (the whole principle behind a tourniquet) above them, she might have died. If there was an artery cut, she would have never lived long enough to crawl up the hill. She would have bled out in minutes - possibly 3 or 4 minutes even. No time for help there.
I've had it drilled into me, like a hole in the head. DON'T SWERVE TO AVOID THE ROOS, SLOW DOWN, BUT DON'T SWERVE. A mate of mine was driving one morning along a bush road and Skippy appeared out of nowhere, straight through the hood, through the windscreen and into the back seat. Totalled the car, at least he was alive, he didn't swerve though. In the outback, you may be the only car on that road for the day or the week.
We have deer here in Indiana. The rule is don't swerve to miss a deer,or any other animal for that matter, either try to stop or just hit the dang thing.
Try to make it a glancing blow (if possable) that way it does not wind up coming through the windshield, and landing in your lap. That will be one lap dance you won't enjoy!!
But what happened to Skippy?
Cactus...
Too bad she didn't have her cell phone tight in her pants pocket or coat pocket..OR.... funny her daughter didn't call to see if she got home safely.... this world is too much of a me me me world its all about me....The daughter should have had her mother call her when she made it home....and then she would have known if she didn't hear from her for how ever many hours then something was wrong...so she could get help to get looking for her. LUCKILY someone that was walking heard her screams....
Too bad she didn't have her cell phone tight in her pants pocket or coat pocket..OR.... funny her daughter didn't call to see if she got home safely.... this world is too much of a me me me world its all about me....The daughter should have had her mother call her when she made it home....and then she would have known if she didn't hear from her for how ever many hours then something was wrong...so she could get help to get looking for her. LUCKILY someone that was walking heard her screams....
Where the hell do you get that from the article??? The woman was in an accident and you're going on about the selfishness of her daughter? Give me a break. Some people on this vine are so foolish.
Yeah I missed that part of the article where it mentions the daughter DIDN'T call.... where was that?
the human body is capable of a lot more than we can imagine
How many times have people been hurt trying to avoid hitting an animal? You brake and hold the car straight if an animal is in front of you rather than wrecking the car and injuring yourself. This is sad.
You will probably get hurt, either way. Pick one...
Now Australia needs to promote kangaroo safety and set up a new branch of government to deal with kangaroos.
Kangaroos should be protected and courts set up to enforce kangaroo law. They could bre called kangaroo courts.....
That's just dumb! There really are more important things going on in the world today that people have to deal with.