A young Korean backpacker who miraculously survived six days lost in rugged bushland without food or water has spoken publicly about her terrifying ordeal.
Joohee Han, 25, was on a mountain walk when she slipped while taking photos at a lookout at Mount Tyson in Far North Queensland, falling down a cliff face into a ravine halfway down the 678m summit.
The backpacker lost a tooth and was unconscious for five hours following the fall.
She then crawled through the terrain and ended up at a rocky waterfall where her desperate screams for help went unheard for six nights.
Joohee Han (pictured) miraculously survived after being lost for six days in Far North Queensland bushland after falling down a cliff face
‘I thought it was the cold that would kill me,’ Ms Han told The Courier Mail.
‘I was high up. It was slippery. If I put a foot wrong it would’ve been instant death,’
The Tully banana farm worker said she repeatedly sung the lyrics to her favourite song, Khalid’s ‘Young, Dumb and Broke’, to keep her spirits up.
‘While I was up there, I was thinking I’m finally living in a place that makes me so happy, so I was so sad to be in my predicament. I thought of my parents so much,’ Ms Han told the ABC.
Ms Han plans to fly home to Korea this week to get her tooth fixed, but vowed to return to Australia.
‘Except this time I’m keeping my young, dumb feet on the ground,’ she told The Courier Mail.
Concerned friends raised the alarm and reported Ms Han missing last Wednesday after not hearing from her for five days.
She was rescued on Thursday following an extensive two day search by police, army personnel, SES volunteers and a rescue helicopter.
After cutting through dense bushland to find her, emergency crews were not able to reach her from the ground, but sent food down before rescuing her.
Joohee Han posted this image to her Instagram, with the caption ‘I’m the KING OF TULLY’ five days before being rescued
Banana farm worker Joohee Han (pictured centre) was rescued on Thursday following an extensive two day search by police, army personnel, SES volunteers and a rescue helicopter
‘When she came to, she was quite disoriented and unable to get her bearings,’ Queensland Ambulance Services flight paramedic Hannah Gaulke said.
Police Inspector Steve Kersley said 20 army jungle specialists, SES, police and the rescue chopper took part in the two-day search.
‘Six days is a long time to be lost in the bush, particularly when you’ve got no bush skills,’ Inspector Kersley told reporters on Thursday.
‘She’s done well to survive.’
Joohee Han was winched out of the rugged bushland and rushed to Tully Hospital on Thursday, less than 1km from Mount Tyson, where she was treated for dehydration
The rugged bushland in Far North Queensland, where Joohee Han was stranded for six nights
Ms Han has since been discharged from hospital and reunited with her rescuers at the Hotel Tully on Sunday night.
For her, it was an opportunity to thank everyone involved in the search.
‘I’m very happy, I’m very thankful to them. I love Tully and I love Australia. I’m alive,’ she said.
Ms Han feels she has been given a second chance to live.
‘It’s just those trivial things, no extravagant plans or anything, I just want to live being grateful for each of those little things, being able to wake up and have a shower, see my friends’ faces, my family, being able to study, read, run, travel wherever I want to,’ she told the ABC.