Warrnambool's Rhianna McLeod is shocked no-one died in the festival crush that left her unconscious with two broken bones.
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The 19-year-old is in the Geelong Hospital after the Falls Festival stampede that injured more than 60 people over the weekend.
Miss McLeod was pulled out by other festival-goers with a broken right tibia and fibula. She had surgery on Saturday night where a metal rod was inserted from her knee to her ankle.
“I really feel so lucky because it could have been so much worse,” she said “I’m really surprised no-one died in there. There was just people stacked up 10 to 15 people high. It was crazy.”
![Lucky: Rhianna McLeod was unconscious and broke two bones at the Falls Festival, which she attended with Beth McDowell, Asha Greene-Kelson and Kadi Nowell. Lucky: Rhianna McLeod was unconscious and broke two bones at the Falls Festival, which she attended with Beth McDowell, Asha Greene-Kelson and Kadi Nowell.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/cxHfELQxnFmSLDWweFfSBG/132674c6-0485-4d2b-a551-51fc9496c25c.jpg/r0_0_614_796_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Miss McLeod and her three friends were leaving the DMA’s set when people in front “started tripping and falling on each other” when she fell too.
“All I remember is I had my head up against the wall and I had people laying on top of me. It felt like I was drowning in people. I remember thinking ‘oh my god I can’t breathe’. My neck was being pushed up against the fence, so my friend pulled my arm so my neck didn’t get snapped against the fence.
“I passed out and that’s when I snapped my leg. When I woke up I was being carried to the grass. I was covered in spew,” she said.
Her friend Kadi Nowell, from Warrnambool, also lost consciousness, but escaped with a bruised and swollen right leg. Miss McLeod hopes to be discharged mid-week and expects her recovery to take at least six weeks.