MELBOURNE, Australia — A 17-year-old boy with autism was found alive Thursday after six days lost in the woodlands of eastern Australia, CBS News and The Associated Press reported.
The boy, identified by police only as William, disappeared last Friday while camping with a friend near Walhalla, a former gold-mining town about 115 miles east of Melbourne. He had walked a short distance to collect more gear and never returned.
A police helicopter crew found him asleep on a flat rock beside a creek. Video showed him shirtless and sunburned, using towels as blankets. Police said he was in good spirits and mostly in good health, and he was taken to a hospital for monitoring.
“I’m just over the moon that he’s alive,” his mother, Elizabeth, told reporters. “He’s grounded for life,” she joked.
Acting Police Inspector Jason Benbow said William trekked for days across very steep terrain and spent his last two days trapped by the steep ground around the creek.
His family said he has Level 2 autism. Mild spring weather and little rain in the alpine region helped, according to the AP.
Sources: CBS News / The Associated Press. Thee Arizona Times uses AI-assisted reporting reviewed against the sources listed.
Photo: W Lee / Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
