First responder speaks out after family of 7 rescued from cliff
"They were very white-knuckled and hanging on for dear life."
A first responder is opening up after seven members of the same family were rescued from a rocky cliffside in Australia.
Peter Collins, a local commander for the New South Wales State Emergency Service in Eurobodalla, led the rescue from the top of the cliff and later shared video of the incident with ABC News.
"I walked up there and saw the seven people, and … huge waves almost breaking over them. You know, I could instantly tell, yeah, this is gonna be a very serious situation," Collins told ABC News.
The family of tourists -- four adults and three children -- had been hiking along the shoreline about four hours south of Sydney when the tide came in quickly and cut off any exits. The family climbed the side of the cliff, up to the water, but became pinned along the rocky edge.
First responders and a helicopter raced to the scene but quickly realized the wind blast generated from the chopper, or rotorwash, could blow the hikers off the cliff and into the water.
"[They were] likely just to blow the people off the cliff facing to the water," Collins explained.
Collins and his team then decided to prepare for a vertical rescue, which took more than three hours and was caught on camera.
Rescuers had to be lowered down the cliff to reach each of the family members and pull them up one by one, about 40 meters. They started with the youngest family member first, a girl who was on the verge of hypothermia.
"When we were hauling them up the cliff face, they were very white-knuckled and hanging on for dear life. But they were very glad to get to the top," Collins recalled.
He added that everyone was "very exhausted" by the end.
"But it was all so good, and I was so proud of my teams as well," he added.
Australian officials said if the waves had been a foot higher, the family could have been swept out to sea.
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