Volunteers Pull Off Daring Rescue of Trapped Tourists

A morning beach stroll in Australia turned into a three-hour cliff rescue for seven tourists after the tide boxed them in and 16-foot waves cut off their route back, CBS News reports. The group, which included three children, scrambled onto a narrow ledge on the country's east coast and used their phones to call for help as the surf crept higher.

A helicopter rescue was ruled out when responders realized the downdraft could knock the group into the water. Instead, volunteer rescuers rigged ropes and an "Arizona vortex," a tripod-like system designed in northern Arizona that lets ropes run over sharp cliff edges without being shredded. Without it, said local emergency commander Pete Collins, the rocks "would just absolutely destroy the ropes." All seven were brought up the cliff to safety by the unpaid crew, which said it has trained for exactly this kind of scenario for years.

"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 says, per ABC News. Before they were pulled up one by one, he notes, they were on the ledge with "huge waves almost breaking over them." Officials estimate if the waves had been just one foot higher, the group likely would have been swept away. There were no serious injuries reported, just a few scrapes, the New York Post reports.