Woman trapped in poo for three hours after outback toilet collapses

A woman who was taking a toilet break while on a road trip in the Australian outback ended up getting stuck waist-deep in a pit latrine after it collapsed.

She was "trapped in the sewage pit for approximately three hours, until [she was] rescued by a local tradesman who happened to be passing by," authorities in the Northern Territory said.

The woman, who was with her husband and two children, was on the way home to Canberra after visiting relatives in Darwin when the incident happened, according to the Action for Alice community Facebook page.

The toilet in question is located at the Henbury Meteorites Conservation Zone, about 145km (90mi) south-west of the remote town of Alice Springs.

Pit toilets are basic, non-flush latrines that collect human waste in a deep hole in the ground. They are common in remote or rural areas, such as off-grid camping sites.

NT WorkSafe, which regulates workplace health and safety in the territory, said the agency managing the Henbury conservation zone had notified it of the incident.

An investigation is ongoing, NT WorkSafe said.

An eyewitness told local news outlet NT News that the woman's husband managed to get the attention of the tradesman, who lowered a rope into the pit for the woman to hang on ton then used his car to lift her out.

The process took over 45 minutes, said the unnamed eyewitness, who told NT News that there were "literal nappies", excrement and urine in the hole.

The woman was taken to the hospital but did not suffer serious injuries, reports say.

This is not the first time accidents involving pit toilets have happened in Australia.

In July 2024, firefighters had to pull apart one such toilet in Indigo Valley in the state of Victoria after a man got stranded in it.

And in 2012, a 65-year-old woman was airlifted to the hospital after falling back-first into a pit toilet in central Queensland. She fractured her leg in the tumble, according to The Courier Mail.

Pit latrines have also led to fatal accidents in other places.