Swimmer accidentally films drowning tragedy on GoPro

  • 23/01/2018
Anneka Bading was filming with her GoPro when the tragedy struck near the waterfall.
Anneka Bading was filming with her GoPro when the tragedy struck near the waterfall. Photo credit: Supplied

A swimmer accidentally filmed the moment a person drowned at a popular waterfall in Australia in the weekend.

Anneka Bading was filming with her GoPro in the water at Mackenzie Falls in Victoria, Australia when a commotion occurred behind her.

A 28-year-old Taiwanese man had fallen under the waterfall after slipping off a rock on Saturday.

Her GoPro footage captures the moments after the man had fallen into the water.

Ms Bading told The Age that "people started screaming and pointing," behind where she and her friends were swimming.

"We had no idea what was going on. We thought some sort of animal was in the water. We couldn't understand what was going on and they kept screaming and pointing," she said.

"One girl grabbed my GoPro stick and tried to use it to save him. I then clicked someone was drowning," she told The Age.

Mackenzie Falls is at Grampions National Park in Victoria, Australia.
Mackenzie Falls is at Grampions National Park in Victoria, Australia. Photo credit: Getty

Ms Bading said people tried to help but the water pressure and depth made it difficult and dangerous.

She and others in the area tried to call emergency services but there was no service. Ms Bading ran to her car and then drove for ten minutes until she had enough service to make the phone call.

Ms Bading told The Age that the area needs more signage to warn of the dangers and there should be cell phone service so people could quickly call for help.

The man's body was found the next morning. It's thought that he became trapped under a rock shelf underneath the falls.

A Parks Victoria spokesperson told The Age that there are signs at the waterfall advising that swimming is prohibited.

They said it was "extremely challenging" to get cell phone reception in the park but options were being explored.

In a public Facebook post, Ms Bading said the event was "so horrible to witness".

"If you can't swim please don't go near water," she warned.

Newshub.