Boy found alive after being lost for days in Australian outback
SYDNEY : An Australian mother yesterday said she felt "blessed" after her three-year-old son with autism was found alive, scooping muddy water from a creek in dense outback terrain after a three-day hunt that gripped the country.
Police sent a helicopter with thermal imaging equipment but failed to spot the little boy in the hours after he was first reported missing last Friday morning at his family's remote property in New South Wales, 150km northwest of Sydney.
Rescue workers and police, including some on horseback, searched through the weekend before finally spotting the boy, AJ Elfalak, during a helicopter sweep of the area on Monday.
"He is with us. He is safe and well and healthy. That is all that matters," his mother, Ms Kelly Elfalak, said yesterday at the family home in the village of Putty.
"I want to thank everyone. I am so blessed," she said.
Police said dense terrain complicated the search for the boy, who was spotted within a few hundred metres of his home.
"The young fellow was sitting in a small creek and was drinking water.
"He was able to catch the eye of the pilot and the crewman," New South Wales Police Superintendent Brad Monk said after the rescue on Monday. - AFP
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