A woman who was taking a toilet break while on a road trip in the Australian outback ended up getting stuck waist-deep in a pit latrine after it collapsed.
She was trapped in the sewage pit for approximately three hours, until [she was] rescued by a local tradesman who happened to be passing by, authorities in the Northern Territory said.
The woman, who was with her husband and two children, was on the way home to Canberra after visiting relatives in Darwin when the incident occurred, according to the Action for Alice community Facebook page.
The toilet is located at the Henbury Meteorites Conservation Zone, about 145 km (90 mi) south-west of the remote town of Alice Springs.
Pit toilets are basic latrines that collect human waste in a deep hole in the ground and are common in rural areas and off-grid sites.
NT WorkSafe, which regulates workplace health and safety in the territory, confirmed that the agency managing the Henbury conservation zone had notified them of the incident.
An investigation is ongoing, according to NT WorkSafe.
An eyewitness told local news outlet NT News that the woman's husband was instrumental in attracting the tradesman's attention, who then helped by lowering a rope into the pit for her to hang on while pulling her out with his car. This rescue operation took over 45 minutes, during which the eyewitness reported that there were literal nappies, excrement, and urine in the pit.
After her rescue, the woman was taken to the hospital but fortunately did not suffer serious injuries.
This incident is not isolated; previous cases involving pit toilets have been reported in Australia. In July 2024, firefighters in Indigo Valley, Victoria, assisted a man who became trapped in a similar toilet, and in 2012, a 65-year-old woman was airlifted to the hospital after falling back-first into a pit toilet in central Queensland.
