Bear necessities save Outback Briton
A BRITISH builder has survived three days lost in the Australian Outback – after using Bear Grylls’s survival skills from his TV shows.
Anthony Collis and his girlfriend Debbie Blomfield were halfway into a 2,500-mile trip when they had to abandon their vehicle in remote Western Australia.
It became stuck in dry red sand in the Pilbara region but the couple went in separate directions after apparently having a disagreement, leaving Anthony miles from the nearest human habitation.
But he survived by eating bugs and flowers and burying himself in the sand at night – a technique he learned watching Bear Grylls programmes.
Enterprising Anthony, 32, also followed the trail of a group of wild camels which eventually led him to some fruit to eat.
Anthony, from Westbury, Wilts, was discovered sunburnt and severely dehydrated after Debbie, 39, raised the alarm.
His grandfather Bernard Collis said yesterday Anthony was “lucky to be alive” after “deviating off the main track” between Darwin and Perth.
Dehydrated
Bernard, 75, also of Westbury, said: “Their vehicle broke down. People are saying they had some sort of argument but I’m not sure why they parted.
“It puzzles me that they went in separate directions.
“Anthony had been told earlier to stay on the path – which is a dust track – but he became lost when he cut through a bush thinking he had found a short cut.
“His feet were badly cut after he lost his flip flops and he was very disorientated when they found him.
“Anthony followed a group of camels a little way and found fruit which was why he didn’t get too dehydrated – he was sucking the juice.
“We were so worried about the outcome of it all but thankfully it all turned out all right in the end.”
Debbie walked for five miles and arrived, dehydrated and disoriented, at a remote mining camp, where she immediately reported Anthony missing.
Planes, helicopters, four-wheel drives and Aboriginal trackers were brought in who found their abandoned vehicle. They discovered some of Anthony’s clothing and equipment in the Outback.
However, he did not appear on the heat-detecting devices used by search officials who then assumed he was dead.
But it emerged Anthony failed to show up on heat seeking equipment as he had buried himself in sand and foliage to keep himself warm during the freezing nights.
Police officers eventually found him on Sunday after they spotted a trail of footprints in the dirt and then heard him calling out.
He was less than two miles from his vehicle.
His mother Karen Mariette posted a photo of camels on Facebook when he was found and underneath a friend wrote “such clever animals”.
Karen also thanked Anthony’s rescuers saying: “Everybody in the family will be eternally grateful to you all.”
Western Australia Police said that Anthony was suffering from exposure but was otherwise fine. He was flown by helicopter to hospital.
Australia is home to the world’s largest herd of camels and there are about 750,000 roaming in the outback.
Camels were imported from Arabia to Australia in the 19th century for heavy transport work but turned loose into the wild with the coming of the age of motor vehicles. Anthony on a stretcher after his Outback rescue. He was later flown to hospital