The potential perils of bushwalking alone are once again being highlighted as the search continues for a 66-year-old man who has been missing in Tasmania’s far south since Saturday morning.
Police say the hiker, who suffers from a medical condition, was on the Duckhole Lake Track in the Strathblane area with his wife and dog went things went wrong.
The couple decided to take separate tracks and meet back at their car. However, when the woman’s dog arrived without her husband, she raised the alarm and kicked off extensive air-and-land searches.
Senior Constable Chris Williams told the ABC that a search party of about 50 people was being briefed before this morning’s operation resumed.
“The brief is going to involve police, SES, volunteer walkers from the walking club from the north of the state and the south of the state, and locals who have put their hand up to help,” he said. “We’re obviously worried about his safety — he hasn’t returned from quite a simple walk.”
The search and rescue crews will continue their efforts off track in the dense bushland.
“The track itself has been exhausted, so all of the searching is being conducted in locations off the track,” said Constable Williams. “Due to the nature of the wilderness down there — it’s very thick, hard to penetrate, so it’ll be very hard going, very slow work.”
Police said the man was well-equipped for a day walk and was last seen wearing an orange and red jacket and blue pants. The track is four kilometres long, with the average person expected to complete it in 90 minutes.
The ABC says it is graded as an easy track, suitable for all ages, which follows an old sawmill tramway line through rainforest before reaching the lake, a flooded sinkhole.
