Courageous Joohee is cause to celebrate
PETER MICHAEL JUNGLE survivor Joohee Han is the toast of Tully after a miracle six-day ordeal trapped in a 20m-deep waterfall ravine.
Fresh details emerged how the Korean bushwalker, 25, left a stone cairn to mark her descent after a fall on the summit of the 678m-high Mt Tyson in Far North Queensland.
The banana farm worker was knocked unconscious for five hours before she came to and scraped and crawled her way 300m down a steep cliff face before she tumbled again into the waterfall hole.
With no food, a flat mobile phone and unable to climb up the slippery rock face, Ms Han kept herself alive on freshwater alone for six days as temperatures plunged below 9C in the mountain mist.
“I thought I would die,’’ Ms Han told friend Craig Strathie from her Tully Hospital bed.
“She said: ‘I never thought I’d see your face again”,” Mr Strathie said. “It’s nothing short of a miracle.’’
The quick-witted Scotsman, who alerted authorities Joohee was missing and described the plucky 145cm tall Korean as “built like a garden gnome”, has himself become something of an internet sensation.
“Joohee asked: ‘I’ve got one question: What is a garden gnome?’,” the banana humper said.
“She googled it and thought it none too flattering, but it gave her a great laugh, she’s in top spirits.
“Now it’s gone viral and I’m a meme.’’
Fellow backpackers and banana workers at the Hotel Tully hostel celebrated Ms Han’s remarkable tale of survival and endurance with a “Korean karaoke night”.
“She’s alive,’’ said friend French tourist Julie Durand.
“We thought they were looking for a body, but then she was found. We’re all still crying and laughing with amazement.”
Ms Han has undergone an MRI scan for her head knock and was in a stable condition in hospital last night being treated for exhaustion, shock, cuts, bruises and a broken tooth.