British couple are almost killed after a two ton shipping container they were sheltering in flipped and blew over 200 meters during a raging storm on the Falkland Islands
- Charlotte Bainbridge, 25, and her boyfriend Edd Hewett, 27, had been camping
- Raging storm whipped up around them so they took cover in shipping container
- They got thrown around inside the metal structure and they suffered bad injuries
- Mr Hewett had to trek five miles in the dark to get help for his injured girlfriend
A British couple were almost killed when they were thrown around inside a two ton shipping container they were taking shelter in during a storm.
Charlotte Bainbridge, 25, and her boyfriend Edd Hewett, 27, had been camping in the Falkland Islands when the adverse weather closed in.
They decided to take cover inside the solid, metal structure, but terrifyingly the wind whipped up and threw it more than 200m across the grassland, seriously injuring the pair.
Miss Bainbridge suffered shattered ribs, a punctured lung and internal bleeding - so her boyfriend Mr Hewett was forced to trek five miles in the dark to search for help.
Having reached a farm house, he had to break in to wake the residents and eventually a helicopter was sent to rescue his girlfriend, who had to be resuscitated in hospital.
Charlotte Bainbridge camping near the shipping container with grey skies looming in the background
Miss Bainbridge, 25, in hospital enjoying a drink with two pictures of her dog straddling the bed rail
Charlotte Bainbridge, 25, and her boyfriend Edd Hewett, 27, had been camping in the Falkland Islands when the adverse weather closed in
Miss Bainbridge from Wallingford, Oxfordshire, said: 'Not long after we had moved inside of the shipping container, it felt like the container had shifted.
'We got out of the tent and sat on the floor with our feet against the wall - prepared in case the container might flip over.
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'That is just not what happened - It went from nothing from being launched in the air in a second.
'We were being bounced and spun around in the air inside the container.
'I remember my body slamming against the side of the wall and we both lost consciousness.'
Probably to their benefit, they were flung from the container and back out into the raging storm.
But with no other shelter in sight, and with his girlfriend struggling with her injuries, Mr Hewett helped Miss Bainbridge back into the container.
He then set off to find help.
Charlotte Bainbridge exploring the Falklands before her injuries. She suffered shattered ribs, a punctured lung and internal bleeding
A tent inside the container which the couple had used as shelter from the raging storm outside
While Miss Bainbridge, left, cowered in the container with her injuries, her boyfriend Mr Hewett, right, trekked five miles through the dark looking for help
'We were both badly concussed, and now in real danger of hypothermia as the storm was raging around us,' Miss Bainbridge recalled.
'Edd went back out to find our first aid pouch after performing some basic first aid on me.'
Mr Hewett's concussion had taken its toll, and he started seeing things that weren't there.
His girlfriend said: 'On the way to the farmhouse, he saw a hallucination of another, nearer house in the opposite direction.
'He had to keep telling himself it wasn't real and to keep walking the direction of the farmhouse.
'I was left in the container with the wind howling and I thought if the wind decides to pick up again then that's it for me.'
Mr Hewett, a trained mountaineer leader, eventually reached the farmhouse, but when he knocked on the door, the sleeping residents couldn't hear him with all the noise from the storm.
He was forced to break in to alert the owners of his desperate situation.
Eventually a helicopter was scrambled and Miss Bainbridge was air lifted to the nearest hospital in Stanley.
She said: 'They did some critical life-saving action - I would've died if not for them and at one point they did have to resuscitate me.'
The couple from Oxfordshire spent Valentine's Day in hospital together before flying home to the UK
Miss Bainbridge, left, had to be resuscitated in hospital, but she and boyfriend Mr Hewett, right, are now at home in the UK recovering
Charlotte Bainbridge, 25, pictured here in the wheelchair, arrives home with her boyfriend Edd Hewett, 27, to her right
Once they had stabilised Miss Bainbridge, she was flown by an RAF helicopter to a larger hospital in nearby Uruguay where she spent six weeks before flying back to the UK (right)
Charlotte Bainbridge taking her first steps after the accident rendered her bed-bound
Once they had stabilised her, she was flown by an RAF helicopter to a larger hospital in nearby Uruguay where she spent six weeks before flying back to the UK.
'I had to fly back business class which was definitely a first - I wouldn't have been able to stand the standard economy seat in my condition.
'I'm so happy to be home now, but my career is working on boats so I'm really looking forward to getting back to work.
'I'm waiting for my shoulder to heal as I'm still currently on morphine for it.
'I can't wait to return back to all the adventuring I did before, but I won't be sheltering in any shipping containers any time soon.'
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