Shocking new footage has emerged of the moment a Qantas worker fell six metres through a gap in a damaged aerobridge, leaving her fighting for life.
Customer experience supervisor Olivia Hristovska, 51, suffered critical injuries when she hit the tarmac on May 3, with video showing she appeared to be looking through viewing windows in the wall of the aerobridge when she stepped into the floor gap.
She suffered life-threatening head injuries, a fractured spine, broken clavicle, collapsed lung, and had been placed in an induced coma by doctors.
Ms Hristovska’s daughters Monique and Sienna have revealed this week they found out about their mother’s accident via doctors and the media, claiming that Qantas did not inform them of the incident.
Monique also revealed her mother has now been discharged from hospital a month on from the fall, but is still suffering life-changing effects.
‘Bones can heal, but the brain… you don’t know. She’s lost her identity,’ she told Nine News.
The two daughters are currently acting as full-time carers for their mother.
Monique, 27, previously told Daily Mail she hadn’t left her mother’s side since the accident, and revealed its devastating consequences.
‘We feel it’s important the full human impact of this incident is understood,’ she said.
‘Not just the event itself, but the long-term effects on her body, mind, and our family.’
Monique celebrated Mother’s Day by her mum’s bedside in hospital as Olivia lay unconscious next to her.
‘This year, I hold my own mum close – not just in heart, but in gratitude,’ she later posted on Instagram.
‘After everything, she’s here, and that alone is a miracle I don’t take lightly. To every mother, nurturer, and divine woman holding it all – we see you.’
Monique also shared a throwback video of her mum unwrapping a gift of lingerie from her daughter’s business, Monsera Intimates, on a previous Mother’s Day.
‘You are the queen of attention to detail, I got it from you,’ Monique told her in the video as her mum, wearing her Qantas uniform, beamed with pride.
‘This day is for you – the woman behind it all. The goddess. The life-giver. The space-holder,’ she posted.
‘Love hard. Speak it freely. Honour the women in your life while they’re here – and carry their legacy when they’re not. Love you mumma.’
Friends wished the ‘strong’ and ‘gorgeous’ Ms Hristovska a speedy recovery.
‘Love this. Your mum is in my thoughts, and I’m hoping for a swift and full recovery for her,’ one wrote.
‘Olivia, you are a strong woman praying and thinking of you as you move through your recovery,’ another said.
Ms Hristovska is believed to have fallen through an opening where the shutter wall of the aerobridge came loose from its tracks.
One family friend posted on social media that a male colleague had desperately tried to stop her fall.
‘She was leaning on the side of the aerobridge, and it buckled out, separating from the floor,’ she posted.
‘A male colleague tried to grab her to no avail. She was unresponsive for 15 minutes, but was revived in the ambulance and then put in an induced coma.
‘She has head injuries, and most likely broken bones.’
Ms Hristovska was rushed to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney’s inner west in a critical condition and placed into an induced coma.
‘She has bleeding on the brain and a broken collarbone, broken ribs, and probably a broken pelvis,’ the friend added in a later update.
‘She fell sideways, then backwards, and hit her head. She is not breathing on her own yet. What an absolute tragedy.’
Ms Hristovska has worked for the airline for 14 years, according to her LinkedIn profile.
A fellow Qantas employee posted on social media that staff working at the airport at the time of the tragedy had been ‘traumatised’ by it.
Images of the opening in the aerobridge Ms Hristovska is believed to have fallen through have sparked questions about how the safety risk went unnoticed.
Sydney Airport told Daily Mail its aerobridges were frequently inspected and serviced under a ‘scheduled systematic preventative maintenance program’.
Safework NSW has confirmed investigations into circumstances surrounding the tragic incident are ‘ongoing’.
It said the investigation could take two years to complete.
Sydney Airport and Qantas told Daily Mail they are assisting the workplace health and safety regulator in its investigations.
The airline said its focus was on supporting Ms Hristovska.