Police divers to search rivers as hunt for missing boy enters fifth day
Police have widened the search for a 17-year-old boy who disappeared in dense bush in Victoria's east on Friday.
William was camping with his step-brother near Walhalla East, in Gippsland, when he disappeared on Friday, November 6.
Police divers will today search nearby rivers as the search enters its fifth day.
He was last seen about 4pm near Stoney Creek Road, near the town of Cowwarr, after walking a short distance from their drop-off location to collect additional camping equipment.
He failed to return, prompting his step-brother to search the area, but there was no sign of him.
Police Acting Inspector Jason Benbow said search crews had already covered a large area of bushland and would extend the search perimeter today.
William disappeared near the W2 Track in Wahalla East. (ABC Gippsland: Jarrod Whittaker)
"We've had a look at the mapping of where we've searched. It's amazing how much ground that we've covered," he said.
"So today, we're going to look a bit further out."
Police divers are searching rivers as part of Wednesday's operation, alongside a helicopter, off-road motorbikes and specialist Search and Rescue personnel.
About 40 to 50 people are searching on foot, with police maintaining the same resources deployed on Tuesday.
Acting Inspector Benbow said there were no plans to scale back the operation.
"There's nothing that we're not doing to try to find William, and we're still very hopeful that today might be the day."
The search is focused about 6 kilometres north-west of Cowwarr Weir, closer to the township of Cowwarr than Walhalla, off Stoney Creek Road.
Mr Benbow said William was last seen near a makeshift campsite beside the river, where there were stairs leading down to the water.
William was wearing only shorts and work boots, having removed his shirt in the warm weather.
His mobile phone, food and water were left behind, while a fishing tackle box, pillows and a fold-out tabletop are unaccounted for.
Police have used a helicopter as part of their search for missing teen William. (ABC News: Jack Colantuono)
Mr Benbow said police were looking into whether he had continued walking, taken shelter or been injured.
"There are a lot of tracks up there. There's a river, but you never know, everyone's different," he said.
KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.