Tourists get stranded on Uluru
AWAY
Three men became stuck on Uluru after ignoring pleas by the site’s traditional owners not to climb the Australian landmark.
A delicate rescue operation took place to winch the stranded climbers off the rock.
The three men, aged 23, first got into trouble when they veered off the designated pathway into a restricted zone and became stuck in a crevice.
Late Monday night volunteers from the Northern Territory Emergency Service’s specialist vertical rescue team had reached the men and were preparing to abseil them to safety, after many hours working to secure abseiling anchors.
Melbourne man David Rowe was holidaying at Uluru with his family and could see the stranded men stuck about 100 metres from the base of the rock.
‘‘They actually got three quarters or even more down the face of the rock in the wrong spot,’’ he said.
‘‘They got to the point where it’s too steep to do the final bit, but too hard to go up again.’’
Although climbing Uluru is not prohibited, the traditional owners of the rock, the Anangu, ask that people ‘‘respect our law and culture’’ by not venturing onto the scared site.
Tourists who visit Uluru are also warned that the climb can be dangerous. It has been widely reported than more than 35 people have died scaling the sandstone giant, including people who have had heart attacks on the climb.
In June last year a Taiwanese man was trapped on Uluru for over 24 hours after falling 20m into a crevice, sustaining multiple limb fractures and head injuries.