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Off-duty firefighter rescues woman who fell in active volcano crater

Firefighter John Conway, who was on vacation in Bali, carried the woman 5,600 feet down Mount Batur after she fell off of a viewing platform

By FireRescue1 Staff

BALI, Indonesia — A vacationing firefighter jumped into action to save a woman who fell 131 feet into the crater of an active volcano.

BBC reported that firefighter John Conway, who is from Birmingham, England, was trekking to the top of Mount Batur when the woman fell from a viewing platform. Using only wet wipes, tissues and tape, he stopped the woman’s bleeding before Dorina Agache, a nurse, began helping him.

“She was clearly in a very bad way. She was bleeding a lot and turning blue,” Conway said.

Other vacationers formed a human chain and spent an hour getting the woman out of the crater with a stretcher.

Conway and Agache helped carry the woman 5,600 feet down the volcano for six hours and escorted her to the hospital. She suffered a fractured spine, fractured ribs and a serious head injury.

“Given the state in which we found her, and the extent of her injuries, it’s a miracle she survived,” Conway said. “Even now, I’m still going through the events as it was all unreal.”

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