TV survival shows help woman to stay alive

A GOLD COAST university student used survival skills featured on TV shows like Man vs Wild to help endure five harrowing days trekking through dense bush after she went missing.

Yang Chen, 26, became separated while bushwalking with a man near Gorge Falls in Tallebudgera Valley last Wednesday.

Ms Chen’s companion was initially sure she had drowned in raging waterways swollen by floodwaters.

Water Police Acting Senior Sergeant Mitch Gray said Ms Chen repeatedly spotted a search helicopter flying overhead each day between Friday and Sunday.

But the exhausted, hungry and dehydrated student was unable to find a clearing to attract attention, despite her frantic efforts.

“If she hadn’t stayed near a water supply I’m fairly confident on Sunday she wouldn’t have been alive, or at least in the condition we found her,” Act Sen-Sgt Gray said.

“She mentioned she’d watched the wildlife survival TV shows and thought to apply some of that stuff.”

Eventually, Ms Chen was found on a ledge about halfway up a 60m cliff by authorities, a short time after a bushwalking team unknowingly passed right by her.

Ms Chen had used a plastic milk bottle she found to collect water and curled up in a banana sack to stay warm, unaware she was near a plantation and a potential lifeline.

She had her mobile phone when she embarked on her hike, but lost the device, which had no signal.

Ms Chen left hospital yesterday and was reportedly in good spirits, though she had wrongly feared she would be made to pay for the search.

Act Sen-Sgt Gray said before “going bush”, preparations should include carrying an EPIRB (emergency position indicating radio beacon) and a fully charged phone. Inexperienced trekkers like Ms Chen who become lost should try to remain in one area.

Gold Coast Water Police co-ordinate between 70-80 missing person operations annually, split between land and marine rescues.