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Missing Autistic Teen Found Alive After Six Days Lost in the Australian Bush
A police helicopter crew spotted the 17-year-old asleep on a rock beside a creek, six days after he wandered off from a campsite east of Melbourne.
A 17-year-old boy with autism who went missing from a campsite near Walhalla, in Victoria's alpine bushland, was found alive Thursday after six days — asleep on a flat rock beside a creek, roughly 1.2 miles from where he'd last been seen.
The teen, identified by police only by his first name, William, had been dropped off to camp with a friend the previous Friday by his mother, Elizabeth. He wandered a short distance from the campsite to retrieve gear and never returned, triggering a search across the former gold-mining district about 115 miles east of Melbourne, according to CBS News, citing the Associated Press. An earlier local report from the Illawarra Mercury placed his last sighting near Stoney Creek Road, between Cowwarr and Walhalla, the previous Friday afternoon.
More than 100 emergency responders and volunteers joined the search, which ultimately located William on Thursday when a police helicopter crew spotted him on the rock. Acting Police Inspector Jason Benbow said William was conscious and responsive as soon as rescuers arrived.
HE WOKE UP TO THE SOUND OF THE HELICOPTER, GAVE THEM A THUMBS UP AND THEY WINCHED HIM TO SAFETY.
Video released by police showed William shirtless and sunburned, dressed in shorts and boots, with towels he'd used as blankets. Officials said he appeared to have trekked for several days over steep terrain before settling by the creek for his final two nights, hemmed in by the terrain. Mild spring weather with little rain in the region is believed to have helped him survive without serious injury.
"I'm just over the moon that he's alive," his mother said in a statement released through police, who described William as being "in good spirits and for the most part, in good health" when he was found. He was taken to a hospital for observation as a precaution.
The case is the latest in a string of Australian bushland survival stories that have drawn global attention in recent years, from hikers surviving on berries and muesli bars to children found after days alone in dense forest. Victoria Police said William's case is now closed.