‘Special moment’ in discovery of missing hiker Hadi Nazari after 13-day search in Kosciuszko National Park

One of the hikers who found Hadi Nazari almost two weeks after he went missing in Kosciuszko National Park has shared the moment they made the discovery. Mr Nazari, 23, had last been seen by his friends at about 2.30pm on December 26 while on a hike, with his disappearance sparking a mammoth search effort across the national park. The Melbourne student was finally found by another group of hikers near Blue Lake, about 10km from where he was last seen on the Hannels Spur Trail in Geehi, on Wednesday afternoon. Josh Dart was among those who made the discovery, saying their group of friends had stopped to admire the view of Blue Lake from a summit. He said another member of the group heard the sound of “someone shouting out”. “We looked down and you could see … a small speck – it looked like a person,” Mr Dart told NewsWire. Mr Dart’s group asked the missing bushwalker if he needed help and met him halfway down the hill. He and his cousin, Jess Dart, knew about Mr Nazari going missing in the area and had recently looked at a picture of him before entering the park. “When we saw who it was, we couldn’t believe it,” Mr Dart said, recalling an overwhelming flow of tears. “He just collapsed into Jess’ arms and we were all hugging each other.” Mr Nazari was offered water and food upon his rescue, telling the group he had lost track of the days and hadn’t eaten for a week. While waiting for the rescue helicopter to arrive, Mr Nazari made a phone call to his family to tell them he was safe. “We got to hear him chatting to his family, which was such a beautiful, special moment,” Mr Dart told NewsWire. “We just couldn’t believe it.” Mr Dartshared photos of the moment they found Mr Nazari in a post to Instagram. “Thank God we found the missing hiker on our hike in Kosciuszko!” the post was captioned. Mr Nazari held up a peace sign in one of the selfies, with the group sporting big grins across all of the photos. Despite spending nearly two weeks in the wilderness Mr Nazari was in good health when he was found, police said. He had only eaten two muesli bars, which he found in a hut. Police said his fitness and hiking experience probably helped him survive. Mr Nazari also recorded a message on his camera, telling rescuers he’d been drinking water and apologising for getting lost, according to The Daily Telegraph, which encouraged survival experts to push for an increased search effort after it was found on January 5. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Thursday Mr Nazari’s journey was “remarkable” and that the whole nation would have “jumped for joy” at news of his discovery. “It is difficult terrain and a big shout out as well to all those volunteers and emergency service workers who helped to find this young man,” Mr Albanese said. “At the worst of times we always see the best of the Australian character and that has been on full display here … showing the resilience that is part of the Australian spirit.” NSW SES Southern Zone deputy commander Matthew Price said finding the camera let rescuers know Mr Nazari was moving around, which sparked hope. “Trying to find a moving target was obviously a bit more challenging for us, but it also kept the spirits of all of the people across all of the agencies who have been working hard for a long time in the Australian bush,” Mr Price told Today. “It is some very rugged terrain in there. We had to bring all of our specialist search assets in. “It kept our spirits alive in looking for him because we had little bits of information on where he could have been … incredibly resourceful.” Mr Price said the young hiker was found about 12km from where some of his belongings were earlier found and called it a “pleasing result”. “We were astonished to see how far he’d managed to get and on very little food and looking in really, really good condition,” he said. He also said NSW Police would “learn” from Mr Nazari’s ordeal and apply it to future searches. Survivalist Michael Atkinson revealed Mr Nazari had been protected from snakes as he was wearing gaiters. Mr Atkinson also said he’d told friends of Mr Nazari’s family — who contacted him during the search — that the young hiker should have been able to survive without food for months. “The human body is very resilient, so provided he was able to find water and he didn’t have any injury, because snakes was an issue as well,” Mr Atkinson said. “He was prepared in that regard, he was wearing gaiters, so that reduced that risk as far as I’m aware. “But really it was just about whether he could have found water. To go 12 days without water is fairly unheard of, and it does sound like he was able to get water.” Mr Atkinson said a huge factor in Mr Nazari’s survival would have been his “mental attitude”. “The fact that he has popped out effectively onto a track after that time means that he was still going through a bunch of thought processes and must have been able to keep himself positive to some extent,” he said. “It’ll be really interesting to hear the stories when he does eventually talk about it.” Images show Mr Nazari hugging family and friends at the search command centre. He was taken to hospital for checks and police said more details of his ordeal would be shared on Thursday when authorities could speak to him in detail. On Boxing Day, Mr Nazari was descending the Hannels Spur trail between Khancoban and Thredbo and was expected to meet his friends at the Geehi campground but failed to arrive. Up to 300 people were involved in the search, with rubbish and hiking poles believed to belong to Mr Nazari found near the Kosciuszko River late on New Year’s Eve. HOW HIKER WAS RESCUED NSW Police said he had been found by hikers off the circuit walk near Blue Lake about 3.15pm on Wednesday. Mr Nazari was then winched from where he was found to the command post, where he was initially assessed by paramedics. The NSW Rural Fire Service released footage of rescuers reaching Mr Nazari. The images show nine people standing and sitting with the 23-year-old on a hillside. The footage shows Mr Nazari being rescued from a mountainside at 2011 metres altitude. The camera operator on the helicopter zooms out from the group, showing the massive expanse of peaks and valleys the hiker was plucked from. Police Superintendent Andrew Spliet shared the latest details about the incident on Wednesday afternoon. The missing hiker was found about 10km from the search command post. “One of my police at the scene had spoken to him, and he relayed that he found a hut up there in the mountains and there were two muesli bars up there that he had eaten,” Superintendent Spliet said. “And that’s pretty much all that he’s had to consume over the last two weeks.” Mr Nazari appeared to be doing well physically and mentally. “He’s obviously very happy to be rescued and safe and back reunited with his family,” Superintendent Spliet said. “From all indications, (his mental health) appears fine,” he said, adding physically the 23-year-old was in good health. Mr Nazari’s shouts alerted passing hikers. “The circumstances we believe at the moment are that he called out to some hikers who were in the area,” Superintendent Spliet said. NSW RFS footage “He told them that he’d been lost in the bush and was thirsty.” Police say Mr Nazari’s fitness and hiking experience – including essential equipment – probably helped him survive. The hiker has some minor cuts, bruises and sprains. The Superintendent was hopeful Mr Nazari would have seen and heard the search helicopters. “The area where he was located did have a lot of air assets and air traffic through there, along the search routes and also going back to refuel in that area,” Superintendent Spliet said. “So, I’m hoping that he would have been able to see that, that there was a significant amount of people out there trying to find him.” After medical assessments, authorities will have a full debrief with Mr Nazari and expect to share more details of the episode on Thursday. “The further details about where he’s been and how he looked after himself are still yet to be determined,” Superintendent Spliet said. “We’ll have some police … speak to him, hopefully tomorrow, and just debrief on his experience out there in the bush, and actually what’s happened.” News of the safe rescue was “fantastic”, he said. “It was something that the crew, the police, the other organisations that have been there, have put a lot of time, a lot of effort into trying to get a successful result into this.” “So, to hear that come over the radio that he’s been located is just fantastic news.” FRIENDS CELEBRATE RESCUE His hiking group, Hazara Hikers in Australia, confirmed the news on social media on Wednesday. “Congratulations everyone,” the post read. “Hadi Nazari’s has been found by the rescue team after 13 days.” Mr Nazari’s family told 9News the missing hiker had called them to tell him he was alive and “OK”. “We talked to him … He is OK … He is fine,” family told 9News. “We are very happy … It is the happiest day of our lives.” Hiking acquaintances of Mr Nazari are overjoyed and amazed at their friend being found alive. ‘KNEW HE WOULD SURVIVE’ Brisbane man Ali Qasimi is a close friend of one of the men who was on Mount Kosciuszko with Mr Nazari when he went missing. “I told him yesterday, don’t worry they will find him tomorrow,” Mr Qasimi said of a conversation with their mutual friend. “His mother, his sister, oh my god, they are very happy.” The men have close-knit cultural ties, both being born in Afghanistan and growing up in Pakistan. The mountainous Pakistani city of Quetta forged them. “The only thing I knew is he grew up in Quetta so he would survive. How he did, I do not know,” Mr Qasimi said of Mr Nazari’s ordeal. “I was very confident Hadi would survive, because from childhood we don’t have any other hobbies, other than going to the mountains. To break fast, we go to the mountains. For lunch, we go to the mountains.” Mr Qasimi was concerned and worried though; the dense bush of Mount Kosciuszko is a very different landscape to the dry mountains of Quetta. Riverina Police District Inspector Josh thanked emergency services for their contributions over the past fortnight, which saw more than 300 people joining the search. “This is an incredible outcome, after 13 long days he has been located,” he said. “We want to thank our emergency services partner agencies, volunteers and members of the public for their assistance. “We never gave up hope of finding him, and we are elated we can return him safely to his family.” RESCUERS REMAINED HOPEFUL Superintendent Spliet said earlier on Wednesday that crews were “very hopeful” Mr Nazari was still alive during their extensive search. “If you have access to water, it is my understanding, given what we have been told by the experts who look after the survivability report for us, we are still hopeful,” he said. “He has access to water, that is the reason why we are still out here and actively engaged. “All of our partner agencies assisting us have people out there who are keen to get a resolution for the families.” Mr Price said crews covered about 12km a day in the search area, which took in some of the steepest and thickest terrain NSW bushland had to offer. “SES teams have been on both day and overnight deployments to cover the search areas that we are tasked to by NSW Police,” he said. “The teams have been rising to the occasion and have been continuously working through tough conditions hoping to get a positive outcome for the family.” CLUES FOUND Earlier on Tuesday, Superintendent Spliet said a campfire area and items belonging to Mr Nazari had been found on Sunday. “We found a fire scene, a little campfire as well as a lighter and camera case and camera that belongs to Mr Nazari,” Superintendent Spliet said. “We are making inquiries to try and determine how long ago that little campfire was lit and that will give us, if we can determine that, some type of timeline to when he was last in that specific area.” Superintendent Spliet said the camera had images on it but wouldn’t elaborate out of respect for Mr Nazari’s family. He said the campfire was located “some distance” over a mountain spur from where the rubbish and poles were previously found along Kosciuszko Creek. “It is a fairly large area, so we are pretty confident he has covered a bit of ground,” Superintendent Spliet said. “We are searching a lot of the waterways and so forth because it is very important if you are out in these conditions, in this area, that you have access to water.” Mount Kosciuszko is Australia’s highest mountain and is surrounded by heavy vegetation, requiring specially trained VRA and SES volunteers and Australian Federal Police officers to be flown into the “rugged and remote” areas.