Climber, 18, Survives 260 Feet Fall Down a Mountain Thanks to Headphones: ‘I Didn’t Really Think It Was Survivable’

NEED TO KNOW

• A climber fell over 200 feet down Mount Walsh in Queensland, Australia, on Nov. 30

• Jake McCollum suffered a fractured spine, broken ribs, internal bleeding and a head injury in the incident

• His parents helped authorities locate him while keeping in contact through his headphones

A teenage climber is lucky to be alive after falling over 200 feet down a mountain in Australia.

On Nov. 30, Jake McCollum was hiking solo near the peak of Mount Walsh in Queensland, Australia, when he lost his footing and fell about 262 feet (80 meters) to the ground, Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and 7 News reported.

McCollum, 18, recalled a tree breaking his fall near the bottom before finally landing on his back. He suffered a fractured spine, broken ribs, internal bleeding and a head injury in the incident, according to the outlets.

“The wind was knocked out of me and I remember thinking it was probably all over for me,” McCollum told ABC. “I didn’t really think it was survivable.”

Luckily, his backpack, which landed nearby, contained a personal locator beacon (PLB), a small, portable distress device that transmits a coded emergency signal via satellite to alert rescue services. McCollum told 7News that he crawled over to his backpack and activated the device.

The signal was received in Canberra and a call was made to his parents. They then attempted to contact him at least twice before they were finally able to connect his phone, which had broken during the fall.

The young real estate agent said that he heard his mom’s voice coming from his Bluetooth headphones, which had also fallen nearby. He crawled over to answer her.

“I heard really, really faintly: ‘Mom, I’m hurt really bad.’ And I think my heart sank, my knees went, it’s probably the worst news you can ever hear,” his mom, Rachel, recalled to 7 News. “I don’t know how many times he said during that phone call: ‘I think I’m going to die.’ ”

Rachel told the outlet that she stayed on the phone with her son for over five hours as she coordinated with the Queensland Police Service to locate him.

When his headphones eventually died, McCollum could only hear his parents through his broken phone lying nearby, per ABC.

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LifeFlight Aircrew officer Shayne White told ABC the PLB signal was bouncing off the rock face, making it difficult to pinpoint Mr McCollum’s location. He also noted that the 18-year-old had been “wearing all black” and “was face down” and “well-hidden under a thick canopy of foliage.”

White said they eventually spotted McCollum’s legs, adding, “We had to come down low to hover before we could actually see him.”

“When the helicopter did arrive, I remember thinking, ‘Oh, this is great,’ ” McCollum told 7 News. “But then it went right past me, and I was talking through the phone and saying, ‘It’s gone past me, it’s gone past me!’ It was back and forth for quite a while, and then eventually they spotted me.”

The rescue crew took about an hour to stabilize McCollum before they transported him on a helicopter to a nearby hospital, where he spent several days recovering, per ABC.

Rachel told the outlet that her son’s Bluetooth headphones helped save her son and without them, “it could have taken days to locate him.”

“We’re one of the lucky ones — we get to hug our kid at night, so we’re so very thankful,” she added.

Read the original article on People