12-year-old tourist falls during Uluru climb

A 12-year-old South Australian tourist has fallen at least 20 meters while completing the Uluru summit climb.

The young girl was visiting Uluru with her parents and younger brother on Sunday when she lost her footing and fell towards the lower section of the climb near the chain.

“On the steep decline, she’s actually got a run-up, she’s actually dived and rolled,” Troy Dicks is a flight nurse with the Royal Flying Doctor Service told the ABC.

“Apparently, it was about a 20 to 30-metre fall.”

Dicks said he was concerned the girl would sustain critical injuries from the fall, but fortunately, she only sustained a compound fracture on one of her fingers, an ankle injury and a few grazes.

“She was surprisingly well and in good spirits,” he said.

“She just realised how lucky she was and was very glad to be alive.”

Tourists have been flocking to climb the sacred site in the Northern Territory ahead of its closure on 26 October.

The ban was put in place due to safety and environmental concerns, as well as the landmark’s cultural significance to the traditional custodians of the land, the Anangu people.

Central Land Council’s chief executive, Joe Martin-Jard told Sky News on Wednesday that people using Uluru as a toilet was also a factor in its closure.

“They’ve [traditional owners] wanted to see it closed for a very long time, for spiritual reasons, for cultural reasons, but if you speak to them they’ll also tell you that it’s for safety reasons, they’ve had to take down bodies off the rock, people have fallen off the rock and it really hurts them when they see visitors being hurt,” Martin-Jard said.

“They’re a bit disappointed with people going to the toilet once they’re up there and leaving things like children’s kimbies (nappies) behind, and when we have the rare event of rain that pee and crap flows down the rock into very fragile water holes and rock holes that animals drink from.”

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Anangu people ululu summit climb uluru