Saturday, January 19, 2008

Survivor: Australian Outback

A married couple who died in the Australian outback used the last of their water on a leaking car radiator, according to the sole survivor of the tragedy. The elderly man was found wandering alongside a remote road about 61 miles from Nyrippi, west of Alice Springs.

A ground search had been mounted to find the man and his two companions after a report was made to police that an overdue party was missing after setting off from the Aboriginal community of Kintore. The man, believed to be aged between 60 and 70, told police that the station wagon they had been traveling in broke down 71 miles from Nyirripi two days prior to his rescue.

The group then ran out of water after using it to fill up a leaking radiator, he said.

Based on information learned from the elderly man, police found the car a few kilometers further along the road but there was no sign of the couple. Lights and sirens were used to try to attract the missing pair as the search team travelled slowly back to the community, leaving water bottles along the way.

Police eventually came across the 31-year-old woman, barely alive, by the side of the road. Her tracks led to the body of her 34-year-old husband who had died about 300 feet from a dry waterhole. The woman was taken to a health clinic where she was pronounced dead soon thereafter.

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