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Australian man found after two weeks stranded in outback | |
(30 minutes later) | |
A second person has been found alive after becoming stranded two weeks ago in Australia's remote outback. | |
Phu Tran was discovered on Tuesday in the Northern Territory, police said. | Phu Tran was discovered on Tuesday in the Northern Territory, police said. |
Mr Tran was with two other people who became stranded when their car got stuck in a riverbed on 19 November. They later split up to find help. | Mr Tran was with two other people who became stranded when their car got stuck in a riverbed on 19 November. They later split up to find help. |
One woman, Tamra McBeath-Riley, was found on Monday, but her partner, Claire Hockridge, remains missing. | One woman, Tamra McBeath-Riley, was found on Monday, but her partner, Claire Hockridge, remains missing. |
Mr Tran has been taken to hospital for treatment after being found by a farmer on a station south of Alice Springs, Northern Territory Police said. | |
They added he had survived by finding drinking groundwater. | |
The group and Ms McBeath-Riley's dog, Ray, had been travelling in remote territory just south of Alice Springs when they found themselves stuck in the bed of the Hugh River. | |
On Monday, Ms McBeath-Riley said the group had stayed by the car for around three days in an attempt to free it. | |
"We tried many times to try to get out, but just couldn't get out, the river was just too large," she told reporters outside hospital. | |
"During the day it's just really hot so we dug ourselves under the car. At night [we] could sleep in the car." | |
They used up all their supplies of water, as well as some vodka drinks, biscuits and beef noodles they had in the car. | |
They eventually found a watering hole, and boiled the water before sieving it through a shirt. | |
"It was still quite dirty, not hygienic water but it kept them alive," Supt Pauline Vicary told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. | |
They eventually decided to split up to get help. Mr Tran and Ms Hockridge planned to walk towards the highway. | |
Ms McBeath-Riley stayed in the area, thinking her dog would not survive a long walk. | |
Northern Territory Police despatched helicopters to search for the trio. They eventually spotted Ms McBeath-Riley about 1.5km (0.9 miles) away from the car area after a local person reported seeing tyre tracks. | |
"Because of the terrain that they have gone missing in, and because we don't have a particularly focused area, we are still doing the helicopters," Supt Vicary told ABC on Monday. | |
"It's quite a diverse terrain - there's sandy dunes, there's hard clay, there's areas of dense trees but there is also rocks and ranges in the area as well." |