Tourist’s foot bent backwards on Gold Coast fun ride

"My foot!" Pippa Sutherland's accident at the Gold Coast fun ride garnered 9 million views online. Photo / TikTok @pippasutherland

A tourist says she is lucky her foot was left “in one piece”, after sustaining a grizzly injury on a Gold Coast fun ride.

Pippa Sutherland, 22, from Melbourne, shared the moment her limb was trapped on the ride at the Surfers Paradise resort in a TikTok clip last month.

The graphic seven seconds of video has been seen more than 5 million times and captures the moment Sutherland and her companion realise her foot was stuck in the machinery.

“My foot! My foot!” she repeats, as it buckles under the pressure.

Bent in an unnatural direction, a metal stopper flexes her foot at a right angle to her ankle.

'My foot!' Sutherland's accident at the Gold Coast fun ride garnered 9 million views online. Photo / TikTok @pippasutherland

“Surprised my foot is still in one piece after that,” she said in a later update following a visit to hospital on the Gold Coast.

The holidaymaker from Victoria said she was lucky to only have a few sprained toes. Asked to supply more footage, Sutherland obliged.

The incident took place on the Surfers Paradise “Slingshot” ride. At the time she was not wearing shoes.

“Before you ask, no I don’t go on rides often,” she wrote.

@pippasutherland

⚠️ TW: bent foot ⚠️ Surprised my foot is still in one piece after that 💀🍌 #fyp #viral #injury #accident #slingshot #rides #goldcoast #surfersparadise #australia #feet #bendy

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“I obviously bent my legs in at the worst time.”

Many of the comments on the two videos, which collectively amassed more than 9 million views, expressed shock she had been let on the ride without shoes.

Some suggested the tourist take legal action against the fun park.

But Sutherland said she was “not suing, the staff were lovely and sincerely sorry for what happened”.

“Once again we were not instructed to keep our legs out at any point, my foot was just in the wrong place at the wrong time…”

The Slingshot ride on Cavill Ave is located on a popular beachfront resort.

The health and safety requirements published on the ride’s website do not explicitly mention footwear.

“Two riders need to have a combined weight of 60kg and be over 125cm. Shoulder harnesses with a between-the-legs safety belt secures each rider over the head and across the chest,” it reads.

The ride operators were contacted for comment.