Student Kylie Taite (22) of Tauranga faced a horrifying death – being cooked alive in scalding hot mud.
It’s a sound I will never get out of my mind – a piercing scream of terror. I had never heard anything like it before and it was a few seconds before I realised that it was coming from me.
Looking down, I could see my right leg had sunk into a pool of boiling mud, just a few steps from the safety of the path. Trying to stay calm, I grabbed a branch above me as my screams got louder.
Everything became a blur as the pain racked my body. I thought I was going to die. Then, my screams became tiny whimpers.
Through the horror of it all, I could hear my partner Jim saying, “It’s okay, Kylie, let go of the branch, I’ve got you, it’s okay.”
His voice sounded so far away. Later, he would say he was trying to keep cool while fighting back panic. But I couldn’t let go of the branch. I thought I was going to fall deeper into the mud pool and be boiled alive. He had to prise my fingers off the branch.
We hadn’t planned to go to the Tokaanu thermal park, near Taupo, that Sunday. We hadn’t seen Jim’s mum for ages and when she came up from her home in Dunedin, to stay with friends in Taupo, we decided to pay her a visit.
As a treat, we took Jim’s nephew Hayden (18) and niece Toni (27) along with us. The thermal park seemed like a great stop-off point on the drive from Tauranga to Taupo. We had a swim in the thermal pools, got an ice-cream and made our way along the park’s nature walk.
After 10 minutes of strolling along the trail, chatting away, I heard the sound of boiling mud. “Wow, that sounds like a good mud pool,” I said to the others, as Jim and I left the track to take a closer look. I remember taking a step forward and the soft ground below me giving way.
Before I could pull back, one leg had sunk into the scorching mud, which I later found out can reach 85 degrees C.
Thank goodness Jim kept calm. I was in shock as he gently eased me out, the grey mud lapping around my knee. Each splash from the mud was like molten lava and caused excruciating pain. I tried to cry but it was so painful that I was beyond tears.
Jim and Hayden carried me back along the path to safety. But each step they took caused me more agony. I looked down and saw my leg was raw, as if someone had run a potato peeler over it and pared off the skin.
“Am I going to die?” I whimpered. “Am I going to lose my leg?” “No, you’re going to be okay,” replied Jim, calmly. “Don’t worry about it. Your leg will be fine.”
Back at the pools, Jim and Hayden sat me in some cool water to soothe my leg while an ambulance was called. At times, I became hysterical with pain and panic. It felt like it was taking the ambulance forever. I kept calling to Jim for help and then telling him to leave me alone. I was so confused. I didn’t know what was going on.
Jim was fantastic and kept me as calm as he could. I suffered second and third-degree burns on my leg and will probably be scarred for life.
After three weeks in hospital, I still can’t walk properly or do anything for myself, which is so frustrating. I have months of skin grafts ahead and I’ve had to give up my computer studies course.
Jim has stopped working to look after me. He showers and dresses me and cooks for me. I don’t know what I would do without him. I used to be so active but now I can only walk four steps without being absolutely shattered.
The trauma has been hard to cope with. The scars on my leg are a constant reminder of that day. I feel waves of panic go through me when I think about what could have happened. I could have been boiled alive in that mud and Jim could have died trying to save me.
I’m also a self-conscious person and I don’t think I will ever be brave enough to wear shorts again. This accident has changed my life. I now have to rethink my whole future. The calm person I once was has disappeared and I feel like a frustrated mess.
I know it was my fault for leaving the track. There were signs up warning against doing it but I didn’t think about the consequences.
one day, I want to go back to where it happened and face my fears. Hot pools and hot mud seem so safe but I’m proof that they are very dangerous. The scars, both visible and invisible, will stay with me for life. As told to Jonica Bray Photograph by Nicola Topping
**Beware of boiling mud!
**
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