It was a race against time on a Queensland beach to save the life of a man buried alive trying to cook a hangi.
Josh Taylor, 25, fell headfirst into the hole he'd dug to cook a pig, then it caved in, and friends desperately started digging to pull him out.
A frantic effort took place to save the young man at 2pm on Saturday on Bribie Island, north of Brisbane.
"We just started digging, digging, digging," one witness told Newshub.
Nathan was just leaving, when a call began to rally the troops and rescue the man.
"I ran down to the car and I said 'Bro you're going to get out of this car you're going to have to help dig we're going to have to help get this fella out'," Nathan told Newshub.
Nathan was told the group had dug the hole to cook the pig in a similar way to a hangi.
"He was that deep into the hole you couldn't see his feet unless you were standing over the hole."
However, their efforts to dig their mate out were only making it worse. They eventually found some rope and tied it around his feet.
"There were fifteen fully grown men on the end of this rope, and he still would not budge," Nathan explained.
Then to their luck, an off-duty paramedic arrived.
"That's when the paramedic said 'Pull him this way he's going to come',and then the suction gave way and he popped out," Nathan said. "It was gnarly when he popped out, I threw up".
For 45 minutes Taylor had no pulse, but with his friends and family taking turns to give him CPR, finally there was a sign of life.
"It gives me goosebumps," Nathan recalled.
Taylor is now fighting for his life in Princess Alexandra Hospital with his family by his side.
