Tackle box spotted from the air leads police to lost teenager

A 17-year-old boy who vanished from a campsite in eastern Victoria was found alive on Thursday after six days in the bush, winched to safety by a police helicopter crew that spotted his tackle box from the air.

Victoria Police said the teenager, whom they identified publicly only as William, was located about 2 kilometers east of Stoney Creek after an Air Wing crew saw a tackle box lying in bushland during an aerial search. A closer look showed him in a creek area below. Flight officers were winched down to reach him.

He was asleep on a flat rock beside the creek, shirtless and sunburned, wearing shorts and boots, with towels pulled over him in place of blankets. Exhausted, he was taken to Latrobe Regional Hospital for monitoring.

How the crew found him

William had been missing since about 4 p.m. on Nov. 6, when he was camping with another teenager in the Walhalla East area, between the towns of Cowwarr and Walhalla in eastern Victoria. Walhalla is a former gold-mining town 185 kilometers, or 115 miles, east of Melbourne. His mother had dropped the pair off for a weekend of camping.

He walked a short distance back toward the drop-off point to collect more equipment and never returned to his friend. The teenager camping with him searched the area and could not find him. William had left his mobile phone, food and water behind, and was wearing only shorts and work boots, which sharpened concern about how he would cope with changing weather and cold nights.

After becoming lost, William trekked for days up and down "some very steep terrain," Acting Police Inspector Jason Benbow said, and investigators believed he may have become disoriented in the country around him. He spent his last two days at the creek where he was found, trapped by the steepness of his surroundings about 2 kilometers, or 1.2 miles, from the campsite.

Police said William had not realized the scale of the search being carried out for him.

Victoria Police released footage of the rescue on Nov. 12 that shows William waking as the aircraft circles overhead, waving toward the camera and pumping his fist, with some of his camping belongings lying nearby. "He woke up to the sound of the helicopter, gave them a thumbs up and they winched him to safety," Benbow told reporters.

The scale of the search

Local officers were joined over the six days by Victoria Police specialist units, among them Search and Rescue, the Dog Squad, the Mounted Branch, the Public Order Response Team and the Air Wing. State Emergency Service personnel, bush search and rescue volunteers, search-dog teams and other community members also took part, across steep and heavily wooded country.

More than 100 emergency services personnel and volunteers took part, the Associated Press reported, and the operation drew in police dogs, divers and helicopters.

By the fifth day, investigators were asking hunters, campers and landowners to review footage from trail and game cameras set up in bushland around Cowwarr, Stoney Creek and the Lower Thomson River. Earlier in the week they had appealed for dashcam footage from motorists who had driven through the area, and they asked to hear from a man and a woman in an older white four-wheel drive who had stopped to help with the search.

What is not known

Authorities have not set out the route he took in the days before he reached the creek, beyond saying he moved through extremely rugged country. The appeals for camera footage were an effort to narrow down where he had walked after leaving the campsite.

William's family have said he has Level 2 autism, which requires substantial support, according to the Australian advocacy group Autism360. A person at that level may have marked deficits in verbal and non-verbal social communication and rely heavily on routines and predictable activities. Disruption can leave them badly distressed.

Spring weather in the alpine region where he was lost had been mild for the week, with little rain.

William told his family he had lived on a family-size bag of Smith's chicken chips, which lasted about two days, and had used two towels as blankets on the cold nights, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported. He also had water from the creek.

Benbow told reporters that some of the ground covered from the air was too steep to search safely on foot.

Reunited at the command post

Flight officers flew William to the search command post, where his mother, Elizabeth, was waiting. Police video showed her embracing her son after the helicopter landed. The Associated Press has not published her family name, to avoid identifying him.

"I'm just over the moon that he's alive," Elizabeth told reporters. She said her son had stayed in one spot and waited to be rescued, and described his being found alive as a miracle.

Amazingly, William is in good spirits and for the most part, in good health. It doesn't happen all the time. I'm sure he's got a story to tell us soon, which we're very keen to hear.

She joked to reporters about what came next. "And he's never leaving the house again. He's grounded for life. He's not going anywhere ever again," she said.

Speaking later to A Current Affair, Elizabeth said that apart from sunburn and scratches that had left his legs sore, her son was in fighting spirit. She said she had known in her heart that he was still alive, and that she could not believe how well he had handled being out there for so long.

He was alert and smiling when officers reached him, police said, and able to speak with his rescuers.

In hospital for monitoring

William remained at Latrobe Regional Hospital for observation after the rescue. He was moved to intensive care overnight after his blood pressure dropped because of dehydration and was to be transferred to The Alfred hospital in Melbourne for further tests, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported. Neither police nor the hospital said how long he would stay.

Victoria Police thanked the State Emergency Service, volunteers and local groups who joined the search. Benbow said the rescue was a welcome outcome for officers after days of difficult searching. With William located, the six-day search was brought to an end.