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WORLD: Families dubbed 'idiots' for getting lost in Outback
Frank Thorne in Sydney13.07.09
Two British families who caused a major emergency by getting lost in the Australian bush have been branded a pack of fools.
With the search for another missing English backpacker, 19-year-old Londoner Jamie Neale, in the same area being scaled down after 10 fruitless days, two British housewives took a stroll with their children close to nightfall on Saturday.
Among them was a baby and grandmother aged 64. The group, who had no walking clothing or equipment, took a wrong turn and spent 12 hours in the freezing cold, praying for rescue, which came just before dawn yesterday.
After a night in the Blue Mountains near Sydney, the two families told how they survived by singing and dancing.
The alarm was raised at midnight by Englishman Kevin Weaver after his wife Angela, children Thomas, nine, Henry, four, and Molly, one, failed to return to their Springwood home. They had set off for Fairy Dell with the children's grandmother Jocelyn Salisbury and British guest Felicity Moore and her children Saskia, 11, and Alfie, nine.
"I didn't know exactly where the guys had gone," Mr Weaver said. "But they all came out smiling and singing. Molly was properly rugged up and she is still breast-fed so as far as she knew it was just a night out."
The women, who hugged their rescuers, huddled together under a small rock ledge for warmth until they were found by police, dogs and a helicopter.
They were criticised by police, rescuers and the premier of New South Wales, Nathan Rees, who said the late afternoon walk was idiotic: "You shouldn't take risks. It doesn't take much for something to go wrong - a broken ankle in an area where there is no mobile phone coverage for example, can lead to tragedy."
In the nearby town of Katoomba searchers continued to look for Jamie Neale, missing since 3 July.
Police will today consider scaling back the search, which has been joined by his stepfather, Richard Cass, from Muswell Hill."We have not lost hope of finding this young man alive but as every day passes it does become less likely that we will do so," a police spokesman said.
Reader views (6)
We are always very quick to critisize others, but always bear in mind - We have all done something dubbed as stupid at some point in our lives, the fact being, it is an issue if something goes wrong, it's not if it all goes right. Hindsight is a wonderful thing - The important factor is they are all safe and at home and thankfully the rescue team are trained for these kind of situations - That's the fact we should focus on...
- Cj, Sussex, UK
Coming from the UK they probably thought the outback was a small park.
- Dom, London
However much you try and educate people, some will always do silly things.
- N Zymes, Liverpool (UK)
total idiots but the lord sometimes looks after fools.
the Outback is not a park.
- Martin Woodhead, United Kingdom
So you go to a different country's wilderness, then go out for a stroll without taking any form of communication? In a region like that, going out without 2-way radio, flares, first aid kit is a bit foolish, isn't it? Is this a British thing? They do the same in my country. There are lots of things you may not expect, like poisonous snakes, wild animals and so on. Even that sweet-looking dog, if it's in a wild pack, can be dangerous.....
- Anil, srilanka
He has a point, they should be thankful they were found.
- Bob, Cheam
