An Australian student who went missing while hiking last month has been found alive, after surviving for almost two weeks on berries and two muesli bars he found.
Hadi Nazari, 23, went missing on Dec. 26 when he split from his two friends in the bushlands of Kosciuszko National Park in the southeastern Australian state of New South Wales.
He was found Wednesday by a group of hikers, about six miles from a command post that had been set up as part of an extensive search operation involving hundreds of people.
“This is an incredible outcome, after 13 long days he has been located,” New South Wales Police Inspector Josh Broadfoot said in a statement.
Hazari drank water from a creek and survived on food he foraged around the mountains, Broadfoot told reporters separately. This included some berries and “a couple of muesli bars in a hut.”
Hazari was “in such good spirits” and “in such great condition,” he said, adding that he was being assessed by paramedics at the search base camp where cheers were heard and his family was seen hugging him.
Hazari and his two friends, ages 23 and 24, had planned to meet at a campground after they split up, police said in their statement. When he failed to arrive, his friends began searching for him.
The search evolved into a multi-agency effort with more than 300 rescuers and volunteers tracking Hazari’s movements in the mountains.
Hope for his survival grew when trash and hiking poles thought to belong to Hazari were found by a river on New Year’s Eve, followed by a campfire, lighter, camera and camera bag on Jan. 5.
Then on Wednesday, a hiking group passing near the search zone heard Hazari calling for help.
“My mate James looked down towards the shouting and we shouted back. We heard him saying, ‘I need help,’” Joshua Dart, 30, told the Australian broadcaster ABC.
Dart said he had seen the missing person alert for Hazari but his group was not actively searching for him.
When they found him after almost two weeks, Hazari appeared to have lost track of time, believing it had only been seven days.
“He really had good survival instincts,” Dart added.
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