A woman’s dream holiday in the Philippines quickly turned into a nightmare when she became trapped under concrete after a makeshift footbridge suddenly snapped.
Queensland woman Jennifer Keenan, 32, was on the final stop of a boat tour from the tropical island of Coron in the province of Palawan on February 15.
As she walked across cement blocks and a plank of wood being used as a makeshift footbridge for the tourist group, the structure collapsed underneath her.
‘She was thrown into the water and pinned between large, sharp concrete blocks,’ a friend wrote on a GoFundMe for Ms Keenan. ‘Unable to move and in severe pain, she was trapped as people rushed to help free her.
‘It took multiple people to pull her out, revealing the extent of her injuries – including a pole that had pierced through her leg and severe damage to her ankle.’
The friend said it took hours to get a bleeding and distressed Ms Keenan to a hospital.
‘We had been having the best time. And then all of a sudden, I was just screaming,’ Ms Keenan told news.com.au on Friday.
‘The platform had given way underneath my feet… we heard it crumbling, but couldn’t understand the sound.
Queenslander Jennifer Keenan (pictured) was on the final stop of an island boat tour in the Philippines on February 15 when a bridge collapsed, pinning her beneath concrete slabs
She said a pole went through her leg during the traumatic incident
She said it took multiple people to pull her from beneath the jagged concrete slabs
Ms Keenan said both her legs became trapped beneath a slab of concrete and she struggled to breathe as she went into ‘survival mode’.
Photos of the bridge prior to the incident showed precarious, weathered slabs of concrete jutting out from the jetty.
The concrete slabs could be seen broken apart in the water after the fall.
Ms Keenan said she could see the muscle in her leg from where the pole had pierced her skin as rescuers lifted her into a kayak.
She was given antibiotics and carried back onto the tour boat before a two-and-a-half-hour journey to a small island hospital.
The traveller was forced to pay for her treatment out-of-pocket as her phone was destroyed, meaning she couldn’t contact her insurer or her loved ones.
She was airlifted to Manila, where she is still recovering.
Ms Keenan has undergone three surgeries and is receiving ‘non-stop’ antibiotics to kill a parasite in her leg, believed to have been inside the pole.
Ms Keenan was taken to a small island hospital before later being airlifted to Manila
Friend Blair Steenholdt launched a GoFundMe last week to help support Ms Keenan as she faces a ‘long road to recovery’.
‘Despite the trauma, Jennifer has shown incredible strength,’ the fundraiser read.
‘She has spoken with deep gratitude about the strangers who rushed to help her –those who freed her, supported her, and reminded her she was not alone during such a terrifying experience.’
So far, the fundraiser has received $7,800 of its $50,000 target.
