{"id":627137,"date":"2026-04-24T04:29:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T04:29:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/627137\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T04:29:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T04:29:08","slug":"in-deep-shit-tourist-stranded-waist-deep-in-excrement-for-three-hours-after-long-drop-toilet-collapses-in-australian-outback-northern-territory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/627137\/","title":{"rendered":"In \u2018deep shit\u2019: tourist stranded waist-deep in excrement for three hours after long-drop toilet collapses in Australian outback | Northern Territory"},"content":{"rendered":"

What started as a routine trip to the bathroom ended in horror after a long-drop toilet collapsed in the Northern Territory<\/a>, stranding a tourist waist-deep in excrement for several hours before she was ferried to safety by a tradesman.<\/p>\n

The woman, who was visiting the Henbury meteorite crater about 120km south of Alice Springs<\/a> with her partner and two children from Canberra, entered the long-drop toilet on Sunday afternoon and didn\u2019t emerge until three hours later.<\/p>\n

Long-drop toilets, also known as \u201couthouses\u201d or \u201cdunnies\u201d, are unlike traditional modern latrines: they use a deep, dug out pit to collect waste, typically connected to a squatting pan or toilet seat. They are common in remote areas.<\/p>\n

map showing where Henbury Meteorite Crater is<\/a>There aren\u2019t many \u2018pit\u2019 stops along the Stuart Highway to the conservation reserve.<\/p>\n

According to NT WorkSafe, which is investigating the accident, initial inquiries indicated the toilet fell into the sewage pit, taking the tourist with it.<\/p>\n

\u201cNT WorkSafe has been notified of an incident where a tourist fell into a sewage pit at the Henbury Meteorites Conservation Zone,\u201d the agency said in a statement.<\/p>\n

The toilet in question. Photograph: Action For Alice 2020<\/p>\n

\u201cThe notification was made by the agency with management of the conservation zone, as a collapse or partial collapse of a structure, which is a dangerous incident under the work health and safety laws.\u201d<\/p>\n

A witness who spoke to NT News on the condition of anonymity said the visitor was in \u201cdeep shit\u201d, standing up to her waist in waste.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s shit, literal nappies, piss, all in that hole,\u201d they told the outlet.<\/p>\n

The witness said the woman\u2019s partner had driven up the highway in a bid to find phone reception and get help when the tradie happened by.<\/p>\n

He was able to lower a tow rope into the hole far enough for the woman to stand on it, the witness said, and used his car to lift her out. They said the whole process took an agonising 45 minutes.<\/p>\n

The woman was unhurt except for \u201ca few cuts\u201d and feeling understandably shaken, the witness said. According to NT News, she was taken to Alice Springs hospital.<\/p>\n

Images of the outhouse, provided to Guardian Australia by local blogging site Action for Alice, show the site now cordoned off with \u201ccaution\u201d tape.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis won\u2019t feature in tourism brochures,\u201d the blogging site wrote. \u201cSomebody\u2019s in a lot of shit for this one, pardon the pun.\u201d<\/p>\n

It isn\u2019t the first time a long-drop toilet has caused problems. In 2024, Country Fire Authority crews were called to a property near Wodonga in Victoria after a man became stuck in one in the dead of night. It took about an hour to get him out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What started as a routine trip to the bathroom ended in horror after a long-drop toilet collapsed in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":627138,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-627137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=627137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627137\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/627138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=627137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=627137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=627137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}