A 77-year-old woman who went missing while on a bushwalk in a Victorian national park has been found safe after spending more than 24 hours in the elements.
The experienced hiker was on the Tyers River Track in the Baw Baw National Park when she told her companions she was returning to their campsite … but she never arrived.
A search involving local police, SES volunteers and Victoria Police search and rescue members was launched, and the woman was located unharmed.
Meanwhile, emergency services say that while they stand ready, willing and able to do all they can to find and rescue anyone who gets in trouble in the bush, they ask travellers to ‘do the right thing’.
The appeal follows an extensive – but ultimately pointless – search for an American couple on the Northern Territory’s Larapinta Walking Trail. The couple, aged in their 50s, called 000 late on Thursday afternoon telling the operator they were lost. However, the phone call cut out midway through and sparked a huge search, including the use of a helicopter as temperatures reached 31 degrees in the area.
An NT Police spokesman said police had no clear indication where the couple were on the trail, which stretches for 223 kilometres.
However, it later emerged that the pair were not on the range and were, in fact, safe and sound.
Police declined to reveal the cost of hiring the helicopter for the search.
However, not all these searches have happy endings. Last year, the deaths of two German tourists after they got lost while walking near Trephina Gorge in Central Australia made international headlines.
