Emergency services and Outback residents have been warning for weeks that border closures and travel restrictions could tempt some travellers to take on ‘long cuts’ that they weren’t properly prepared for.
Sadly, those worrying predictions came true earlier this month, with near catastrophic consequences.
A couple and their dog spent two terrifying days stranded in the Outback after they decided to take a massive detour through remote South Australia after border restrictions complicated their road trip from Cairns to Adelaide.
However, the plan went badly wrong for José Merlos and Nicky Wong when their Toyota RAV4 got bogged in sand on a remote road and they decided to walk to the tiny South Australian town of Innamincka.
“It was so hot, and we were scared, I thought we were going to die,” Merlos said. “My phone said ‘SOS’ only, and I kept trying over and over again to call for help, but the call wouldn’t go through.”
Walking with their Dalmatian Loki, the couple ended up writing SOS into the sand, 40km away from where they had left their car, and also left hand-written notes begging for help along the way.
“We hardly spoke while we walked because our mouths were do dry,” said Merlos who at one stage resorted to drinking his own urine. “We had little food left but we couldn’t eat it because we had no saliva and couldn’t swallow.”
After two days without food or water, a remote worker known only as Craig spotted the couple’s notes and SOS sign and quickly found them.
“Craig told us he only took that road once every six weeks, and we had another 25 kilometres to walk to get to Innamincka. If he hadn’t found us, we would have perished,” Merlos said.
The couple were later treated by a nurse from the Royal Flying Doctor Service who said they were in “remarkably good physical condition”.
In a statement to The Sydney Morning Herald, a spokesperson for the service said people driving though the Outback should always have physical maps, tools to unbog their car, extra water, and a satellite phone. And the advice if you do end up stranded is to stay put in your car.
“A vehicle stuck in mud or sand is easy to see from the air in the station choppers, you have more chance of being rescued alive if you stay put,” they said.
If you make decisions like these people did, BUY AND CARRY A PLB, It costs huge amounts of resources (and money) to find such IDIOTS as these. Luck will not always work !!