A 17-year-old boy with autism was discovered alive on Thursday after being missing for six days in the woodlands of eastern Australia.
The individual, identified by police only as William, had gone camping with a teenage friend when he vanished last Friday near Walhalla, a historic gold-mining village located 185 kilometers east of Melbourne, according to authorities.
A team from a police helicopter located him asleep on a flat rock adjacent to a creek, surrounded by the wilderness, and he was subsequently reunited with his mother. According to the police statement, William appeared to be in good spirits and was mostly healthy.
Footage captured from the rescue helicopter revealed that he was without a shirt and had suffered sunburn. He was dressed in shorts and boots, using towels as makeshift blankets.
“I’m just ecstatic that he’s alive,” his mother, Elizabeth, shared with reporters. The Associated Press has chosen not to disclose her last name to protect her son’s identity.
“And he’s never leaving the house again. He’s grounded for life. He’s not going anywhere ever again,” she quipped.
William was subsequently taken to a hospital for health monitoring, as reported by police.
His family has indicated that he has Level 2 autism, which necessitates “substantial support,” according to the Australian advocacy organization Autism360.
Individuals with this level of autism may experience significant challenges in both verbal and non-verbal social communication and often depend heavily on established routines and predictable activities. Interruptions to these routines can lead to considerable distress.
During the last week, the weather in the alpine area where William was lost had been mild, with very little rainfall.
Elizabeth had dropped her son and his friend off the previous Friday for a weekend of camping. William walked a short distance from the campsite to retrieve additional camping gear but failed to return to his friend, police stated.
After becoming disoriented, William navigated through “some very steep terrain” for several days, noted Acting Police Inspector Jason Benbow.
He spent the final two days at the creek where he was found, trapped by the steep landscape, approximately two kilometers from the campsite, Benbow explained.
“He awoke to the sound of the helicopter, gave them a thumbs up, and they winched him to safety,” Benbow told the media.
The extensive search carried out by police involved over 100 personnel from emergency services and volunteers.