BRIT SURVIVES 12 DAYS IN AUSTRALIAN WILDERNESS
The backpacker, aged 19, in the photo above, survived his ordeal by eating leaves and berries, and using tree bark as insulation against the freezing temperatures.
Jamie Neale was travelling in Australia as part of his gap year, after completing his A-levels. During a visit to the Blue Mountains, he set out from a hostel in Katoomba for a day's excursion and only took a few sandwiches and a bottle of water. Unfortunately, he left his mobile phone in his room, and he wasn't carrying a map. After a few hours, he realised that he was lost and began to panic - he was lost in the wilderness with hardly any food! He tried to retrace his steps but found himself at the bottom of a cliff which he was unable to climb. Instead, he had to go down into a valley.
The area where Mr Neale went missing is dangerous. Walkers who have been lost for a few days are usually found with swollen feet, sprained ankles, various wounds and cuts, but no one has ever survived being lost for more than a week before. Some lost walkers have even died of dehydration in the past. Luckily for Neale, it was winter and there were plenty of streams to drink from. However, the nights were freezing cold and there was a high risk of hypothermia. Neale made blankets from the bark of the native paper bark tree to protect himself from the cold.
During the daytime, Neale walked in the sun to dry off his damp clothes. He quickly ran out of his food supplies, and started eating leaves and berries. He tried to light a fire by rubbing sticks together, but it was no use. He knew that rescuers were searching for him because he could hear and see the helicopters. He desperately tried to signal to them, but they didn't spot him. When, after a few days, the helicopters stopped passing overhead, Neale knew he was in dire straits - the rescue teams had given up. He thought he was going to slowly die of starvation.
After Mr Neale's disappearance, the local emergency services organised a massive search, and his father Richard Cass flew over from London to join in the operation. However, after a week, Mr Cass eventually accepted that his son was dead. He organised a small ceremony in the national park, carving his son's name on a rock and lighting a candle, and returned to Sydney to fly home. He was sitting in Sydney airport when he received a phone call from the police with news of the teen's rescue.
On the twelfth day of his ordeal in the wild, Mr Neale was on his last legs. He was suffering from exposure and dehydration and his body was scratched. Then, suddenly, he came across two experienced walkers camping in the forest, and they rapidly escorted him to safety. He was admitted to hospital, and although he was in bad shape, he was not suffering from any serious injuries. Doctors were concerned that some of the plants he had eaten were poisonous.
However, after two days, they said that he was fit enough to leave. Mr Neale is now spending time with a relative, under medical observation. Doctors have said that he cannot fly for several weeks because he may have pneumonia.
In the meantime, Mr Neale is not wasting any time. His disappearance came to the attention of the world press, and now a TV channel has offered him somewhere between £25,000 and £100,000 for exclusive rights to his story.