SYDNEY (AFP) – A hiker lost in Australia’s alpine wilderness survived for almost two weeks on foraged berries and scavenged muesli bars, police said yesterday.
University student Hadi Nazari was hiking the punishing Hannels Spur trail on December 26 when he failed to meet his friends at a pre-arranged campground.
The 23-year-old was separated from the group when he stopped to take photos, police said, and quickly became disoriented.
A police helicopter plucked Nazari from the bush in southeastern Australia on Wednesday evening after a group of hikers heard him shouting for help.
“He was able to keep himself hydrated from the water courses and the creeks up there in the high country, and also looked for berries,” Police Superintendent Andrew Spliet said yesterday.
“He came across a hikers’ hut up there and that had two muesli bars, and that was pretty much all he had for the last two weeks,” Spliet told national broadcaster ABC.
The Hannels Spur track carves through Australia’s Snowy Mountains to the top of Mount Kosciuszko, the country’s tallest peak.
Overnight temperatures in the mountains regularly drop to five degrees Celsius, and sometimes fall lower, in the summer.
Although the ranges are mostly devoid of snow in the summer months, the thick bush and blustery winds make it one of Australia’s most difficult walking tracks.
