Police at Yulara were alerted to a missing person just after 8am yesterday. They were told that a Romanian National had managed to contact relatives in Romania by phone to tell them that he was lost in the desert. The man then gave the co-ordinates of his location from his GPS and police were alerted.
A search was mounted using a helicopter and the man was found 22 kilometres from Yulara.
He was extremely dehydrated and told police he had not eaten or drunk water for the past three days.
The man apparently set off from Yulara to trek to Lake Amadeus, about 45 kilometres north-east of Yulara. He took just four litres of water with him and ran out of water three days into the hike.
Police believe the man failed to reach Lake Amadeus after running out of water and was trying to walk back to Yulara. He managed to get to within mobile phone range and raised the alarm.
The man was dehydrated and exhausted when found and was taken to the Yulara Health Clinic before being medivaced by plane to Alice Springs Hospital.
Officer in Charge of the Missing Persons Unit, Detective Senior Constable Kerry Harris said the man was extremely lucky to have survived the ordeal and the incident should serve as a warning to others about the dangers of hiking in the desert.
"This particular individual was an experienced hiker who had trekked through South America and Asia, but even someone with his experience almost failed to survive. He failed to take enough water and clearly failed to anticipate the reality of hiking in such extreme temperatures as we have in Central Australia.
"He also failed to let anyone know where he was going and when he was expected to return.
"It is extremely frustrating for police when people - especially overseas tourists - take themselves off into the desert without proper equipment, food, water, suitable clothing and footwear. They fail to understand the rigours of the environment and when they get into trouble it's virtually impossible to find them because of the vastness and terrain of the area.
"In the past few years we've had three people disappear in the area in similar circumstances and despite huge amounts of resources being used in trying to find them they are still missing."
DSC Harris said police were imploring hikers to check with Police or local Rangers first to ensure they were properly briefed about the conditions they would be facing and to ensure that someone was aware of where they intended to go and how long they expected to take getting there.
NB: Attached is Pic of missing person (centre of photo) taken from helicopter before his rescue. Illustrates the difficulty police have in locating people in the desert
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