A kayaker had to break his own leg to prevent himself from drowning after he was trapped under a fallen tree in a fast-flowing river.
David Wilson, 38, had been kayaking with three friends on West Kiewa River in Victoria when his craft became stuck under a tree which had fallen across the river.
The fast-flowing water pinned Mr Wilson's kayak to the bottom of the river and forced his chest forward on the front of his boat, while his legs were trapped inside.
Speaking from his hospital bed Mr Wilson said, faced with drowning, he had no choice but to break his leg so he could wriggle out of the kayak.
"It was soon clear that I was not going to come out so I pushed my upper body up to get the maximum force of water against it and leverage on my legs hoping they would break," he said.
"After a while, with a sense of relief, one did and allowed me to roll out of the boat."
Luckily one of Mr Wilson's companions was a doctor was able to splint his left leg, which was broken across the shin just below the knee.
Air Ambulance paramedics found Mr Wilson the next day and airlifted him to a hospital in the La Trobe Valley.
