Miller could barely breathe after his digger rolled into deep water (Picture: Caters)

A man is lucky to be alive after he was trapped in mud for hours.

Daniel Miller, 45, managed to survive despite just his nose and forehead being above the swamp-like mud.

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Miller became trapped when his excavator slid down a bank after heavy rain in Charlotte Bay, in New South Wales.

He spent two hours with just the top half of his head protruding from the filthy water before mustering the strength to arch his back, raise his mouth out of the water and shout for help.


Graham Nickisson, a member of Westpac Rescue Helicopter crew, said a neighbour heard his cries at around 2.30pm.



‘It pinned him inside the open cabin… his airways were only a couple of centimetres above the water,’ Nickisson added.

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Miller was pinned by his digger (Picture: Caters)

He was pinned by the heavy vehicle (Picture: Nine)

While Simon Black, a 42-year-old fire and rescue worker, has described the moment he used his bare hands to dig Miller from the mud.

Black told the Daily Mail that Miller was ‘inches from drowning’.

Miller was trapped for two hours (Picture: Nine News)

Rescue workers had to dig Miller out by hand (Picture: Foster Fire station)

‘He pretty much only had part of his head sticking out of the mud, he looked like a turtle, that’s the only way I can describe it.’

Black added: ‘We could tell he was very scared and cold and had hypothermia setting in. He was in shock as well.’

It took the rescue team around 20 minutes of digging before Miller was finally freed.

It appears luck was on Miller’s side after Black added: ‘The excavator’s bucket arm landed on a rock, if it didn’t it could’ve sunk down further and pushed him down with it.’

Miller was airlifted to John Hunter Hospital to receive treatment for hypothermia and back injuries.

He was later airlifted to hospital (Picture: Nine News)