A British backpacker has been found alive after going missing in the Australian outback for almost two weeks.
Jamie Neale (19), from Muswell Hill, north London, lost his way after going for a 10km walk in the rugged Blue Mountains and leaving many of his possessions, including mobile phone, at a youth hostel.
He had arrived in Australia on June 22nd and checked into a hostel in Katoomba on Thursday July 2nd and was last seen about 9.40am the next day.
He was found by two bushwalkers and survival experts said the 19-year-old only made it because of the availability of water due to recent rain.
Mr Neale's father, who flew to Sydney to help search for his son, said he had given up hope of finding him alive and had held a makeshift "closure" ceremony for him.
"I carved his name and lit a candle, buried a red rose for England and he's come back from the dead," Richard Cass told reporters after visiting his son in hospital, where he was recovering from exposure and dehydration.
"He's all scratched. He's very gaunt, but it is fantastic," said Mr Cass. "He was eating seeds. He ate some sort of weed which was like rocket, as he described, a kind of lettuce.
"He was talking to me about whether there was a God and he was kind of losing faith in the idea that there was a God every time that helicopter flew over, and he waved and shouted and nothing happened," he said.