The four-day search for a man who went missing on a hunting trip near Aurukun is over after he was found alive and well on Thursday morning by a Weipa contractor travelling to the community. Photo: Queensland Police Service.
The four-day search for a man who went missing on a hunting trip near Aurukun is over after he was found alive and well on Thursday morning by a Weipa contractor travelling to the community.
The man, 52, whom the Cape York Weekly has been unable to contact for comment and chosen not to name, was reported missing at about 12:30am on 23 March after going hunting with a family group some 70 kilometres north-east of the remote western Cape York community.
The search and rescue operation involved Queensland Police Service officers, Aurukun Shire Council staff, APN Cape York rangers, community members and aerial assets.
On 27 March, Cape Pest Control owner Hardus Van Wyk was flagged down by a man on the side of the Aurukun Access Road and said he quickly realised it was the missing 52-year-old.
“I was travelling to Aurukun this morning and at about [8:20am], I saw him on the side of the road, about 15km west of the Watson River Station turnoff, on the Aurukun side of that,” he told Cape York Weekly.
“He flagged me down – he had no shoes, just his socks, and I could just see that he was in need, and he said he’s been missing since Sunday and asked me if today was Tuesday.
“I said ‘today’s Thursday mate and everyone’s been looking for you.’”
Mr Van Wyk said he gave the man some water and then used his satellite phone to call triple zero and advise he had found him.
“I let the operator know I’d located [the man] and that he was in good spirits and just happy to be rescued,” he said.
“At the end of the day, he rescued himself – I just picked him up.”
