Philippines holiday horror: Aussie tourist lucky to be alive after plunging into water, pinned under concrete

A Queensland woman’s idyllic holiday has turned into a nightmare after a makeshift platform collapsed beneath her during a boat tour in the Philippines, leaving her pinned under concrete in the water.

Jennifer, 32, had been travelling through Asia and was on the final stop of a three-day island hopping tour from Coron in Palawan when the terrifying incident unfolded on February 15.

The group had just returned from visiting a nearby village where they had been playing basketball with locals and experiencing the island’s culture.

But as Jennifer followed others across a temporary platform towards a bridge linking to the shore to their boat, the structure suddenly gave way beneath them.

Cement blocks and timber plans collapsed without warning, sending people plunging into the water below.’

Jennifer was thrown into the water and trapped between large concrete blocks with only part of her face above the surface allowing her to breathe.

“We had been having the best time,” she said from a hospital bed in Manila.

“And then all of a sudden. . . I was just screaming.

“The platform had given way underneath my feet — we heard it crumbling but couldn’t understand what the sound was.

“I saw the person in front of me fall into the water and then another — and before I realised it, I was trapped under cement.”

Staff and fellow tourists are rushed to help as Jennifer screamed in pain while trying to keep her head above water.

She said both of her legs were pinned beneath the rubble.

“I had to tilt my head back so it wouldn’t go under the water and I could breathe,” she said.

“I was just screaming. I was just in survival mode.”

Multiple people eventually managed to pull her free and bring her to shore, where the severity of her injuries became clear.

A pole had pierced through her leg, causing major damage to her ankle.

“I see this pole come out of my leg and my ankle...the skin was just around my foot,” she said.

“I could see the muscle in my leg and there was blood everywhere.”

With no pain relief available on the small island, Jennifer was first taken by kayak to a local medical centre before being transferred by boat to the nearest hospital — a journey that took about two and a half hours.

She said she remained in extreme pain for the rest of her holiday.

At this hospital, staff initially told her nothing was broken and stitched her wounds under a local aesthetic, suggesting she would not be able to walk the same day and return to work within two weeks.

However, Jennifer’s phone had been destroyed in the water, leaving her unable to contact family or her travel insurer while she received the initial treatment.

Friends she had met during the tour later helped her contact her family in Australia, who organised her insurance and an air ambulance transfer to Manila.

She has since undergone three surgeries to clean the wounds after doctors discovered a parasite infection from the pole that pierced the leg.

Her right ankle is also cracked.

“I have only been given paracetamol,” she said.

“I’ve needed three surgeries to clean my wounds because there was a parasite in my leg from the pole.”

Jennifer remains in hospital in Manila while awaiting confirmation of a medical evacuation flight back to Brisbane, which she hopes will happen within the next week.

She said doctors have no confirmed the parasite infection has cleared, but she faces months of recovery and rehabilitation.

A Go Fund Me page has been launched to help cover medical costs and support her whilst she is unable to work.