Sydney - Police in Australia have launched a massive manhunt after a young British couple travelling through the outback were involved in an armed ambush in which the man appears to have been shot and kidnapped.
Detectives have revealed that the couple were flagged down by a man in a white pick-up truck while they drove along the desolate 1,450 km highway that links Alice Springs and Darwin.
But after stopping they were attacked by the truck driver. The 28-year-old man is believed to have been shot and his 27-year-old girlfriend forced to flee into nearby desert. She was then hunted by the gunman and his dog for four hours in the middle of the night before she was able to raise the alarm.