'A nightmare situation': mates trade holiday for heroics in high-stakes Thai cliff rescue

A group of mates from the NSW South Coast have traded one of the last days of their Thailand holiday for heroics in a high-stakes cliff rescue.

The situation, which panned out on a rock ledge in Thailand's Krabi, had Wollongong man George Broadfoot dangling by a rope 70 metres up in the air.

He was not alone though. His three mates, also from Wollongong, were also harnessed and dangling from the same cliff face, with hundreds of tourists standing on the sand below staring at them.

The heat was searing and the intense humidity sent sweat running down their bodies, they were getting dehydrated and if anything at all went wrong it would be a certain death.

A holiday to Thailand was never supposed to end like this for the four guys from the Illawarra.

The call for help came on a regular Wednesday morning, January 28, when George and his mates were wondering how many more rock climbs they could squeeze in before they had to go back home to reality.

Tonsai Beach in Krabi is a secluded, bohemian paradise renowned for world-class rock climbing, stunning limestone cliffs and BASE jumping, even though the sport is illegal in Thailand.

A BASE jumper from the United Kingdom had leapt from the top of the 150m tall cliff on a windy day and been slammed into the rocks halfway down.

His parachute snagged and left him on a narrow, sharp limestone ledge filled with cacti, he had a compound fracture to his ankle and blood was gushing from the wound.

BASE jumping is a dangerous sport, George said.

"That's a pretty common way that BASE jumpers die, cause if your chute tangles up, then you'll plummet to the ground, but he was very lucky that his chute got caught in some bushes," he said.

Even though it was not a climbing cliff - the rocks were too spiky and breakable and there were no pre-drilled hooks for climbing ropes - George and his mates, Finn Irving, Justin Pang and James Harrington, along with local climber Hari Phongsopon answered the call for help.

The angle of the cliff meant that they wouldn't be able to abseil down, they had to climb up and drill holes for rope hooks as they went.

"I was a bit worried about how safe it would be, but I trusted Hari because we'd climbed together a few days and I knew he was a very good climber, very sensible," George said.

It took hours of painstakingly slow climbing, drilling and climbing some more to reach the injured BASE jumper.

"Water, water, give me water," the BASE jumper pleaded as soon as his rescuers were in sight.

The man was surrounded by cacti and fragile, sharp rocks.

"It was a bit of a nightmare situation, and it was frying in the sun, yeah, really hot. So yeah, it was quite scary," George said.

As they hung from the cliff face they bandaged the man's ankle and got him to stand on the tiny ledge to start the descent.

When the injured BASE jumper and his rescuers finally got to the bottom of the cliff and onto the sand after the five-hour operation, the crowd who had been watching on cheered in celebration.

"My two girls were watching from the beach the whole time, there was an emotional moment that was caught on film where I got down and gave them a hug and everything, and everyone clapped," George said.

As he reflects on the long and at times scary rescue mission, the science teacher at Wollongong High School of the Performing Arts is pretty humbled by the attention, it's just something you do, he said.

And while it might be hard to understand why BASE jumping is illegal, he said there are good reasons.

"Imagine if you're in a crowded area and someone's chute doesn't open and someone just hits the ground and splats and your child sees it, it's pretty bad situation," he said.