The discovery of Will Callaghan drew wide public attention and was greeted with relief.
Melbourne:
An autistic teenager lost for two days in the Australian bush reunited with his family on Wednesday after a search for hundreds of volunteers who used Vegemite and the air of Thomas the Tank Engine as decoys.
Will Callaghan, a non-verbal autistic teenager, separated from his family atop Mount Disappointment near Melbourne on Monday, but was found by a volunteer after two nights of freezing temperatures.
“I’m really upset, it’s as good as you would expect,” said visibly relieved mother Penny Callaghan after finding the 14-year-old girl. “Thank you all! I am so grateful!”
Residents living nearby joined the manhunt and were asked to grill bacon and onions and leave out his favorite foods in the hope that his favorite smells would get the boy out of the bush.
Police inspector Christine Lalor had asked that Vegemite and the feta be left aside while officers installed three speakers in the area to play songs from Thomas the Tank Engine.
Volunteer Ben Gibbs told public broadcaster ABC that he had passed through thick bush when the boy appeared only a few yards away.
“He was really angelic, he was standing right there,” said Gibbs. “I heard he liked Thomas the Tank, so I just told him about Diesel (a character) and stuff like that.”
The discovery of Will Callaghan drew wide public attention and was greeted with relief.
Temperatures had dropped below zero degrees Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit) in the region on Monday evening, raising fears for his safety in what police described as “life threatening” conditions.
Prime Minister of State Dan Andrews welcomed the news: “It could be called Mount Disappointment, but there is absolutely nothing disappointing today.”
(With the exception of the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
