An experienced hiker has been rescued after spending five days missing in Western Australia‘s Helena and Aurora Ranges Conservation Park.
Authorities received a welfare concern for the man, aged in his 70s, after he failed to return home from his hike on November 19.
Several resources were brought in and a significant land and air search began in the ranges the next day.
Rain lashed over the region, making it all the more harder for officers.
Two days later, officers found the man’s car at a camp site and narrowed their search to the surrounding area.
“We found all of his tent and equipment wet and saturated, it looked like he was missing for more than a couple of days,” Senior Constable Dan Byrne said.
“There was an urgency there to try and find where he may have gone to.”
Officers used a drone to help them in their efforts but failed to find him and suspended the search for the night.
Those officers stayed at the site overnight and resumed the search the next morning, when they found the man safe and well just before 5.30am on Friday, November 22.
They were told he had actually been missing for five days.
“Coming across him walking out of the bush, well, talking to us was fantastic,” Byrne said.
“We definitely were aware that this might have gone another way and we might have been looking for a body rather than a person so to actually have him still alive after what would now be five days was fantastic.
“There was a hug when he found him and there were high-fives between us.”
The hiker was uninjured but was taken to Southern Cross Hospital for assessment.
Police noted he was “dehydrated and tired”.
