The Pillars: 12-year-old girl breaks both legs and ankle at Instagram hot spot
Two cliff divers have broken legs in a horror week at a Mount Martha hot spot and life savers are urging thrill seekers to do their research before taking the plunge.
South East
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A young athlete has broken both her legs after diving from a notorious Mornington Peninsula cliff as life savers and police plead with thrill seekers not to take risks at the social media hot spot.
The 12 year-old-girl was attempting a pin drop from The Pillars at Mount Martha at low tide on January 1 when she “hit the bottom hard”.
She was rescued by Mount Martha Life Saving Club volunteers.
A family friend shared on social media that the girl broke both legs below the knee and one ankle, which would need further surgery.
He said the aspiring diver was “in good spirits but has quite a period of recovery ahead”.
The horror accident was one of three at the site in less than a week and local life savers were bracing for more trouble when warm weather returned.
Just four days after the young diver was hurt a man in his 30s broke his leg leaping from The Pillars on Friday afternoon.
He was rescued by off duty Mount Martha life savers who happened to be nearby in a boat.
Mount Martha Life Saving Club captain Chris Quinn said the man was lucky to have been spotted by the volunteers.
“The Pillars aren’t part of our patrol area, and we weren’t even on duty,” he said.
Mr Quinn said rescues from The Pillars were “incredibly challenging” and had to be carried out by experienced volunteers, taking them away from their official patrol area on the beach.
“It’s actually a black spot for our digital radios which means we often can’t communicate with the club or other agencies,” he said.
Club volunteers, who were on duty only on weekends and public holidays, tried to visit the site during their patrol, to warn thrill seekers of the risks involved with jumping.
“We don’t have any authority to tell them not to jump, so we just try and raise awareness and let them know that are around the corner if things go wrong,” Mr Quinn said.
The site was once a secret spot only locals visited but recently became a social media sensation, drawing large crowds on hot days.
Mr Quinn said most visitors arrived “when it suited them” rather than timing their trip around the tides.
Mornington Peninsula police advised those planning to jump from the cliffs to “know their limitations and the depth of the water”.
“Far too often have there been injuries from people jumping or diving into shallow water,” a spokersperson said.
Visitors were also warned parking near the site was limited and urged not to walk along the Esplanade, which has no footpath, in order to reach The Pillars.
The site is on Crown Land owned by the state government and the local council is responsible for its routine maintenance.
Mornington Peninsula Shire has tried a variety of measures to stop people visitng the site, including installing a large fence in 2018.
The fence, dubbed the great wall of Mount Martha, did not stop the thrill seekers and was removed the following summer.
More recently the council has improved signs warning of the dangers and closed some informal paths to the site.
Parking restrictions have also been introduced in the surrounding residential streets to deter visitors.
“The Pillars is a fragile coastal cliff formation with changeable water conditions influenced by tides and weather,” a council spokesperson said.
“Standing or sitting on the rock or the cliff edge poses a very high safety risk and we urge people not to enter the site.”
