Police helicopter captures moment missing 17-year-old is found after six days in the wilderness
After six terrifying days lost in the wilderness, a missing 17-year-old finally saw the one thing he had been hoping for: help arriving from above.
His emotional reaction was captured on camera as the police helicopter spotted him in the bushland and circled overhead – and the look on the teenager’s face said it all.
The teenager, whom police identified only as William, could hardly contain his excitement, pumping his fists as he realized his ordeal might finally be over.
William went missing while camping with a friend near Walhalla, a town about 80 miles east of Melbourne, in Victoria, Australia. He and had been missing since November 6, according to reports.
By the time rescuers found him on Thursday morning, November 12, he was badly sunburned, exhausted and had endured nearly a week alone in the wilderness.
Even more remarkably, William had managed to survive on a family-sized bag of potato chips and water from a nearby creek.
His relieved mother, Elizabeth Barkley, later described the rescue as a miracle.
”I’m just over the moon that he’s alive,” his mother told reporters.
She also had a rather different message for her son once he was safely back home: he was ”grounded for life.”
