A Blue Mountains walking track which claimed the life a National Park worker is still too unstable to retrieve the body.
The 36-year-old was crushed by falling rocks and the others, aged 26 and 27, were trapped by falling debris from 10m above them.
Bushwalkers heard screams as the worker was killed and two others badly injured in the rockslide west of Sydney.
One man died at the scene, while two were trapped against a wall with possible fractures to their legs
Emergency service crews were called to the Wentworth Falls walking track after the rock slide killed one and trapped two others
‘Two National Parks workers were the first people to get to the scene and render first aid. They are pretty traumatised,’ Paul Noack, from the Australian Workers’ Union, told the Daily Telegraph.
‘They are all known to the workers there so it is a real tragedy for the community.’
Mike Burgess said he heard a ‘big explosion’ that ‘sounded like dynamite going off’ as the sandstone cliff collapsed about 11.45am on Wednesday.
A NSW Police spokesman said it took rescuers an hour to reach the site due to the remote location of the landslide
‘I knew it wouldn’t be dynamite, it would be a big slab,’ he told the ABC.
‘We heard all the blooming rocks smash down through the bush… right after that I heard a bloke scream.’
The 27-year-old man sustained serious leg and pelvic injuries and the 26-year-old had fractures all over his body.
The pair were winched from the scene by rescue helicopter and rushed to Westmead Hospital, while the dead man’s body remains at the scene.
NSW Police said their priority was to safely rescue the two men, before turning efforts to the recovery of the man who died.
A NSW Police spokesman said it took rescuers an hour to reach the site due to the remote location of the landslide (bottom right)
The three men were working on a section of the popular National Pass walkway at Wentworth Falls, which was closed on August 31 due to unstable rocks overhead.
A National Parks warning said the area had been assessed by a geotechnical engineer due to ‘a very dangerous, unstable section of rock above the walking track’.
The men were working to make the track safe before it could be reopened when the very thing authorities were concerned about happened.
Rocks earlier fell on the track, which was visited by 90.000 tourists every year, last November.
‘This is obviously a very tragic incident, and a very sensitive operation,’ they said.
A NSW Police spokesman said it took rescuers an hour to reach the site due to the remote location of the landslide.
An ambulance spokesman said rescue efforts could potentially be hampered by weather, which was turning bad
All tracks in the Wentworth Falls precinct have been closed to assist with the medical evacuation of those injured, not due to safety threats
NSW police said they successfully contacted the families of two of the men, but were yet to reach the family of the third.
An ambulance spokesman said rescue efforts could potentially be hampered by weather, which was turning bad with three millimetres falling that morning.
All tracks in the Wentworth Falls precinct have been closed to assist with the medical evacuation of those injured, not due to safety threats.
The incident is being investigated with a crime scene established around the scene, and will be reported to the coroner.
A command post was set up at Armstrong Road, and paramedics were sent in on foot
NSW police said they successfully contacted the families of two of the men, but were yet to reach the family of the third