World/Grampians National Park
Woman’s waterfall GoPro footage captures the final moments of a drowning man
Anneka Bading was swimming in the pool beneath a popular waterfall, unaware that a tragedy was unfolding just metres away.
The 24-year-old was filming herself and her friends on a GoPro at MacKenzie Falls in the Grampians National Park when she unwittingly captured the final moments of a man’s life.
The man, believed to be a 28-year-old Taiwanese national, jumped into the water and drowned while his friends tried to save him.
Bading and two friends were swimming near the falls at around 5 pm when they heard people shouting and pointing towards a spot where the water was particularly deep.
“At that moment, we had no idea what was happening. We thought there was some kind of animal in the water. We couldn’t make sense of it, and they kept shouting and pointing,” she said.
“One girl grabbed a camera pole and tried to use it to reach him. Then, in the blink of an eye, he was gone.”
Bading tried to call emergency services, but no one in the area had mobile reception. “No one knew what to do, and we couldn’t understand what the man’s friends were saying. My legs were shaking as I realised what was happening,” she told reporters.
A rescuer who happened to be at the waterfall jumped in, but quickly realised the pool was too deep and the current too strong to dive safely. “We all told him not to take any risks. Thank God he didn’t,” Bading said.
“We were swimming right where this man drowned. It could have been us.”
Anneka Bading
She drove for ten minutes until she found reception and reached emergency services. They told her there was a rocky ledge beneath the waterfall where a person could become trapped.
The man’s body was recovered at around 9:30 the next morning.
Bading is now calling on authorities to install warning signs and improve mobile coverage in the area. “We were swimming right where this man drowned,” she said. “It could have been us. On the way back we were all shaken, talking about how lucky we were to be alive.”
A park official added: “In all national parks and state nature reserves, it is important that visitors read the warning signs and follow the advice of park rangers.”
Our thoughts are with the man’s family and friends.