Missing teen found alive after six days lost in woodlands

A 17-year-old boy with autism was found alive yesterday after six days lost in eastern Australian woodlands.

The boy, whom police identified only as William, was camping with a teenage friend when he disappeared on Friday last week near Walhalla, police said.

A police helicopter crew found him surrounded by wilderness lying asleep on a flat rock beside a creek, and he was later reunited with his mother.

William, center, and his mother Elizabeth embrace after the boy was found in Cowwarr, Australia, yesterday.

Photo: Victoria Police via AP

William was in good spirits and mostly in good health, the police statement said.

Video shot from the rescue helicopter showed he was shirtless and sunburned. He was wearing shorts and boots and was using towels as blankets.

Elizabeth had dropped off her son and his friend for a weekend of camping. William walked a short distance from the campsite to the drop-off location to collect more camping equipment but never returned to his friend, police said.

After becoming lost, William trekked for days up and down “some very steep terrain,” Acting Police Inspector Jason Benbow said.

He spent the last two days where he was found at the creek, trapped by the steepness of his surrounds 2km from his camp site, Benbow said.

“He woke up to the sound of the helicopter, gave them a thumbs up and they winched him to safety,” Benbow added.

“I’m just over the moon that he’s alive,” William’s mother, Elizabeth, said.

“And he’s never leaving the house again. He’s grounded for life. He’s not going anywhere ever again,” she joked.

William was taken to a hospital, police said.

William’s family have said he has Level 2 autism. That requires “substantial support,” according to the advocacy group Autism360.

Such a person might have marked deficits in verbal and non-verbal social communication, and rely heavily on routines and predictable activities. Disruption can cause significant distress.

The Southern Hemisphere spring weather had been mild for the past week in the alpine region where William was lost and there had been little rain.