Australian influencer reveals EXPLOSIVE near-death sauna experience: 'It was a horror movie!'

Daily Mail​

13-06-2025

A tranquil escape turned to horror for Dominique Elissa, who has opened up about a shocking ordeal that nearly claimed her life.
The influencer, 30, shared a video to TikTok this week to reveal that she narrowly escaped death after a shocking backyard accident.
Dominique revealed that she was staying at a house 30 minutes from Byron Bay where she was to host a wellness retreat the following day.
However, her idyllic getaway was shattered when a sauna on the property, that she was 'minutes' away from stepping into, exploded.
'I didn't think i was going to talk about this, but I had the most crazy, traumatising near death experience the other night,' Dominique explained.
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'I was away, 30 minutes out of Byron...I had put the sauna on to have a sauna - I was in it the night before.'
Dominique went on to explain that she had turned the sauna on to heat up before cooking dinner, planning to step in after she ate.
'I finish eating dinner and I'm about to put my swimmers on to go in the sauna, and I hear "boom",' she said.
'I look up and the entire sauna exploded.'
Dominique added that the explosion rose '10 to 15 metres' into the air, and caused a power outage in her remote accommodation.
'My phone was about to die and I had no reception,' she said. 'I am screaming, "Help! Somebody help me!" It was a horror movie.'
Dominique was eventually able to dial 000, however, emergency services were unable to save the sauna.
'The whole sauna burnt to the ground,' she said. 'It was the most horrific thing to experience because I was a few minutes from going into that sauna.'
'I'm so grateful to be alive, so grateful to be here.'
Dominique's ordeal was met with a flurry of comments from her 73,000 TikTok followers.
'This is straight out of a Final Destination movie, one follower offered, while another added a similar: 'new fear unlocked.'
Others claimed that Dominique's mother, Odile Faludi, who passed away in March after battling stage four cancer, was watching over her.
'Omg Dom !! Life is so precious, your mum was there watching over you,' one follower commented, summing up the sentiment of many.
Dominique's ordeal comes after she tied the knot with husband Tom Bull on March 7.
The pair were married at Prince of Wales Hospital on March 7, just two weeks after getting engaged, so the bride could have the honour of having her ill mother walk her down the aisle.
She revealed on Instagram she was initially 'upset, angry and a mess' when she received the news, but decided she would stop at nothing to have her mother walk her down the aisle.
The pair were married at Prince of Wales Hospital on March 7, just two weeks after getting engaged, so the bride could have the honour of having her ill mother Odile Faludi walk her down the aisle
Dominique then shared the heartbreaking news that her mother had died, just over a week after the nuptials
Sharing images and video of the bittersweet ceremony with her followers, Dominique and Tom made the best of their union as they celebrated with their families, who met for the first time on the big day.
Dominique then shared the heartbreaking news that her mother had died, just over a week after the nuptials.
Sharing a video montage of her mother looking joyful at her daughter's wedding earlier this month, Dominique wrote: 'This is heartbreaking and it doesn't feel real.
'Less than two weeks ago we celebrated our wedding, and yesterday I had to say goodbye to the most incredible woman who ever walked the planet.
'My mum has always been my greatest inspiration, fighting with grace, always saying that negativity is worse than cancer.'