An 18-year-old, Jake McCollum, fell 80 meters from a pinnacle near the summit of Queensland's Mount Walsh on November 30 during his first solo bushwalk. He sustained a fractured spine, broken ribs, internal bleeding, and a head injury. His phone was damaged in the fall.
McCollum activated a personal locator beacon (PLB) that his parents had insisted he carry, alerting federal authorities. Approximately 30 minutes after the fall, he heard his mother's calls through his Bluetooth headphones, which had fallen nearby. He managed to crawl to them and respond.
His mother, Rachel McCollum, and father, Tim McCollum, remained on the phone with him for over five hours as they drove to Mount Walsh and relayed information to search teams. The search efforts were complicated because McCollum was not on the main public trail, which authorities were initially searching. The PLB signal was also bouncing off the rock face, making location difficult. LifeFlight Aircrew officer Shayne White noted that McCollum was wearing all black, was face down in a mountain's shadow, and hidden under thick foliage.
McCollum's headphone batteries eventually died, but he could still faintly hear his parents through his damaged phone. After five hours, Mr. White located McCollum's legs. The rescue crew spent over an hour stabilizing him before carrying him on a stretcher through dense scrub to be winched out by a helicopter.