Model Dominique Elissa had a ‘crazy, traumatising, near-death experience’ when she said she was nearly killed by an exploding sauna before hosting a wellness retreat in Australia
A TikTok influencer has told how she nearly died in a horror explosion when a sauna at a wellness retreat exploded a day before she was due to host an event.
Australian model and podcast host Dominique Elissa had the near death experience as she was planning a sauna sweat out during a peaceful break in a holiday home just outside Byron Bay. The influencer, 30, started up the warming process before going inside and preparing dinner, hoping it would reach her desired heat by the time she was finished. But, instead of enjoying a meal and preparing for the next day, she was subject to a “crazy, traumatising, near-death experience”.
READ MORE: How flash Tory donor cashed in on disposable vape boom before government ban
She told her TikTok followers in a video that has now racked up 90,000 views that she turned on the sauna as she had done the night before, and was about to get her swimming costume on when she heard a “boom”.
Dominique explained: “I finish eating dinner and I’m about to put my swimmers on to go in the sauna, and I hear ‘boom’. I look up and the entire sauna exploded.” She added that the explosion was so powerful it ejected debris 10 to 15 metres into the air, and that she was left helpless while screaming for help.
She said: “My phone was about to die, and I had no reception. I was screaming, ‘Help, someone help me!’ It was like a horror movie”. While she was eventually able to get hold of local authorities, they were unable to save the sauna.
Dominique said the experience was the “most horrific thing”, as she was just a few minutes from entering the sauna when it exploded and burned down. She said: “(It) burned to the ground. It was the most horrific thing to experience because I was only a few minutes from going into that sauna”.
“I’m so grateful to be alive, so grateful to be here.” Her shocked followers were quick to comment under her confession, with some likening the experience to a horror movie.
One commenter said the events were “straight out of a Final Destination movie”, and another added: “New fear unlocked.” Another user chimed in saying they had never heard of anything like it, adding: “That is insane! This is the first time I’ve heard about a sauna exploding!!! They are so popular atm!”
Other commenters were worried for their own safety, with saunas becoming increasingly trendy, especially in the wellness community. One follower said: “Noooo this is so scary, I just become obsessed with this trend.”