Rescue workers, and officials from the Phang-nga provincial public disaster prevention and mitigation office, spent more than five hours, working in darkness, to bring to safety a female Australian who fell from the edge of a waterfall in Takuapa district of Thailand’s southern province of Phang-nga on Friday afternoon.

An official at Chong Fah waterfall said that the victim was among a group of four Australian tourists who had come to visit the seven-tier waterfall.

As they entered, officials advised them to obey the warning signs, which are displayed at various locations around the waterfall deemed dangerous and should be avoided for their safety.

He suspected that the tourist group had trekked up to the seventh tier of the waterfall, which is the highest point, and tried to descend via a more challenging route, but the victim slipped and fallen into a ravine.

Some members of the group then rushed to alert officials who called the provincial public disaster prevention and mitigation office, which immediately sent a team of rescue workers.

The rescue was hampered by darkness and the difficult terrain. It took them about five hours to reach the woman and pluck her to safety.

The victim sustained a broken left ankle and had to be taken to the district hospital for treatment.