Police turned to cameras hidden in bushland during search for teenager found alive after six days
While so many stories end in tragedy, this one has a happy ending after a 17-year-old teenager was discovered in the Australian bush. Alarm bells rang when William vanished in the dense Victorian bushland near Walhalla and Cowwarr, east of Melbourne.
It's said that William vanished on November 6 while on a camping trip with a friend near Walhalla East. He'd been walking back to a drop-off point to get his camping gear, but it's believed he lost his way.
Days later, as he still tried to find the camp, he fell down into a steep gulley and became trapped there.
Last seen wearing only shorts and work boots, there was extra concern that William had left his phone behind at a makeshift camp, making it even harder for him to be found or to try and communicate where he was.
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Police dogs and divers were involved in the largest search ever conducted in the Walhalla area, mobilising over 100 emergency personnel in a six-day search.
A command post was set up from Cowwarr, with ground, water, and aerial units working together to navigate the thick bushland. Local authorities even asked for help from a bizarre bit of tech, with hunting cameras used to try and track William's movements before he vanished.
Police appealed to hunters, campers, and landowners in the vicinity after a hunting camera was found in the search area.
Anyone with cameras or dashcams around Cowwarr, Stoney Creek, the Lower Thomson River, and surrounding tracks was asked to review their footage carefully. It came shortly before Police Acting Inspector Jason Benbow extended the search perimeter, with still no luck.
Even though cameras didn't end up leading to William's eventual rescue, viral footage shows the moment a police air wing discovered him, lying near a creek on the morning of November 12. The sound of the helicopter woke him up, and after being winched to safety, he was given a bottle of water and a donut before being taken to hospital.
As reported by ABC News, William was exhausted and unable to walk, but aside from some cuts to his legs and severe sunburn, he appears to be largely unharmed.
Amazingly, he supposedly survived for six days on just a family-sized bag of chicken-flavored crisps, using towels and a pillow to stay warm.
William's mother, Elizabeth Barkley, told reporters that while he's grounded for life, she's just relieved to have him back: "I've been praying for this all week. To find him while I was out here, it was such a perfect … you couldn't write the script any better."
Elsewhere, she gave reporters an update on his condition and how she's kept him fed on McDonald's: "He’s doing fine, everything seems to be fine, he’s in perfect health. He just stayed in one spot and waited to be rescued and I’m just over the moon he’s alive."
While Barkley appears to be joking, she concluded: "He is never leaving the house again. He is not going anywhere."
Benbow reiterated that the search wouldn't have been possible without a police helicopter: "The search area today was something we couldn't do on foot, it was way too steep and beyond the capabilities of any human, to be honest."
Thankfully, all's well that ends well.
