The I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! jungle which serves as a home to the 2024 campmates has seen its fair share of tragedies.
The show is filmed in Springbrook National Park on Australia’s Gold Coast, a popular tourist spot. Unfortunately, with such high visitor numbers, accidents are inevitable.
The dangerous landscape has witnessed hikers falling from its towering ledges and waterfalls. Let’s delve into some of these heartbreaking incidents.
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In January 2024, a man’s body was discovered at a popular hiking spot in the park, which ended a days-long search. Nathan Scobie, 33, was found dead after police were alerted by his family who had “serious concerns” for his welfare.
(Image: QLD Police)
Queensland police officers had found his 2022 Volkswagen van at Purling Brook Falls and confirmed that his death was not being treated as suspicious.
In 2022, a 79-year-old grandad tragically fell 25 metres down a waterfall while hiking with his daughters. They were trekking the 4km Twin Falls circuit in the national park when he slipped at a narrow part of the path and tumbled down an embankment.
A rescue helicopter was dispatched promptly to the scene, with one of his daughters also descending the embankment in a brave rescue attempt. Tragically, the man, whose name has not been disclosed, sustained fatal injuries and passed away. Whilst his daughter was airlifted out by helicopter.
(Image: 7News)
In another unfortunate incident in 2009, a man plunged a staggering 60 metres to his death while walking at night with friends.
The pair were walking in the dark without torches and were unable to see the treacherous path ahead, prompting the Department of Environment and Resource Management to issue an urgent warning to bushwalkers to carry the correct equipment. The 34-year-old man’s cries for help were heard, but emergency services didn’t find him until six hours later, by which time he had tragically died.
A spokesperson said: “It is understood the men were going for a night time walk to look into the valley. At the time when the man fell they did not have torches.”
In a separate incident, the death of young mum Benita Forster and her baby Tana Taui in 2002 was initially treated as a murder-suicide after their bodies were found in shallow water at the base of a 33-metre waterfall. A note with the word “goodbye” was found in Benita’s car, but police later conceded the case was “not very straightforward” as her possessions had been “systematically dropped” along the path to the falls.
The case was reopened, with Benita’s family insisting she was “anti-suicide” and would never harm her baby. Friends suggested she may have been targeted for murder due to her connections to a notorious biker gang and a drug lord.
The sinister Perish brothers were linked to the chilling incident which remains unsolved, while Benita’s stepson Wade Yates-Taui ended up behind bars for an unlawful killing after getting involved with a bike gang himself.
In 2017, Springbrook was hammered by landslides and a gut-wrenching 900mm deluge, terrifying locals as roads crumbled and landslides trapped residents without power. Incredibly, emergency crews bustled through within 36 hours, with locals admitting they bricked it during the crisis.
(Image: ABC News)
Residents like Shannen Hillman said at the time: “We were a bit panicked at one point because we didn’t think it would be so long – we thought we might be cut off just overnight.”
“All Springbrook people are so thankful for the workers who built the bridge back in such a short time and for the fire crew and SES for being such helpful people.”
Another mystery still haunts the area since 2013 when hikers stumbled across a woman’s body at a waterfall base. Despite coppers saying there were “no suspicious circumstances”, it’s still a riddle whether the lass in her forties took a fatal tumble or something else happened on the Purlingbrook Falls Trail – she had already died by the time rescue teams arrived.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
