A 23-year-old hiker missing since Boxing Day in the remote Kosciuszko national park has been found alive.
Hadi Nazari stumbled into the path of a group of hikers at about 3.15pm on Wednesday, on the circuit walk near Blue Lake, police said.
“The circumstances we believe at the moment are that he called out to some hikers who were in the area. He told them that he’d been lost in the bush and was thirsty,” the Riverina police district commander, Supt Andrew Spliet, said.
The hikers called triple zero.
Nazari, from Victoria, was in “good health”, Spliet said.
Nazari told police “he found a hut up there in the mountains, and there were two muesli bars up there that he’s eaten,” Spliet said. “And that’s pretty much all that he’s had to consume over the last two weeks.
“So the further details about where he’s been and how he’s actually looked after himself are still yet to be determined.”
Several creeks in the area ensured Nazari’s access to water.
He was assessed by paramedics at the search base camp, located about 10km as the crow flies from where the hikers had encountered him.
He was taken to hospital for a full check, ahead of police conducting a full debrief to establish exactly what happened and how he survived.
Nazari was previously last seen by friends at about 2.30pm on 26 December descending the Hannels Spur trail in Kosciuszko national park.
When he failed to arrive at the Geehi campground as planned, his two friends, aged 23 and 24, began to search for him.
A multi-agency search involving more than 300 for Nazari began, and on 31 December, rubbish and hiking poles believed to belong to him was found near the Kosciuszko River. On 5 January, a campfire, lighter, camera and a camera bag was found near the Geehi River.
Josh Broadfoot, a Riverina police district inspector, said it was an “incredible outcome”.
“We want to thank our emergency services partner agencies, volunteers and members of the public for their assistance. We never gave up hope of finding him, and we are elated we can return him safely to his family,” he said.
The Hannels Spur trail is one of the toughest ascents in Australia, according to bushwalking advice, with hikers gaining 1,800 metres of elevation.