A hiker missing for 13 days in the Snowy Mountains, New South Wales, Australia, has been rescued.
Hikers found 23-year-old Hadi Nazari yesterday afternoon, just off the trail near Blue Lake, after hearing his call for help, local authorities said. He was about 10km from a search-and-rescue command post.
“He was fine, alert, able to speak,” New South Wales Police Superintendent Andrew Spliet said in a press conference. “But obviously he’s getting checked out by the medical professionals and we’ll see what comes of that.”
Nazari reunited briefly with family and friends before an ambulance transported him to Cooma Hospital.
Hikers responded to a call for help and found the missing man off-trail. Photo: Fire Rescue Safety Australia/Screenshot
A hut and two muesli bars
Nazari disappeared on December 26 in Kosciuszko National Park after splitting from two friends to take photos. They last saw him descending the Hannels Spur trail, one of the more challenging hiking trails in Australia.
“If you’re off the track, it’s bloody tough country,” Doug Chatten, a local hiking guide, told the Australian Associated Press earlier this week. “It’s no easy walk, that’s for sure…you’d be a hard person to find.”
According to reports, Nazari is an experienced hiker, and his friends immediately began to worry when he did not return to camp. They alerted park authorities that he was missing on the afternoon of the 26. They have been searching ever since, with the help of over 300 volunteer and professional searchers.
Rescue workers search Kosciuszko National Park for missing hiker Hadi Nazari earlier this week. Photo: New South Wales Police
Searchers found trash and hiking poles they believed belonged to Nazari on December 31. On January 5, they found a camera bag, camera, lighter, and a campfire near the Geehi River.
As the days rolled on, searchers began to despair of finding the University of Melbourne student alive. Dehydration and UV radiation from the Australian summer were of particular concern.
Mount Kosciuszko, near where Hadi Nazari disappeared, is mainland Australia’s highest mountain at 2,228m. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
“This is an incredible outcome,” Riverina Police District Inspector Josh Broadfoot said after thanking the volunteer search and rescue workers.
Details of Nazari’s ordeal are scarce, but he made a brief statement to officials shortly after his rescue. In it, he claimed he’d stumbled across a hut where he’d taken shelter. In the hut were two muesli bars — the only thing he’d eaten during the 13 days he was lost.
