Relief after Axle found
Emotions high after boy, 3, found in rough terrain
The father of the 3-year-old who went missing in Tolaga Bay was awestruck and emotional when asked about how the family was feeling after his son was found.
Glen, Axle's dad, said any parent would know how difficult the 21 hours he was missing had been for the family.
“I can’t put it into words,” he said. “There were hundreds of people searching, some people were even jumping into the river at 10.30pm yesterday looking for him.
“If I had to put [how we’re feeling] into a sentence it’d be that I wish every community in New Zealand was like this. They were amazing.”
The dog owner who last saw 3-year-old Axle playing with his pet has recounted the heart-stopping moment he realised the boy had vanished into rugged East Coast bush.
Damon Jeffery said he didn’t sleep a wink last night, fearing the worst and determined, like so many in the Tolaga Bay community, not to stop looking for little Axle until they found him.
Jeffery had been the last person to see and hear the little boy who had been playing with his white dog Bro while he worked inside his bus.
“Then all of a sudden they were gone,” he said.
Jeffery was searching high and low for the youngster — desperately trying to retrace the preschooler’s steps.
“I went everywhere. I looked — honestly — I looked. The chopper looked, the police did. It was unreal how far out he was.”
To everyone’s relief the lost child was spotted by a Tolaga Bay resident on a hill face in rough terrain about 4km from his home at 10.45am yesterday.
Gisborne man Gareth Hailey, who was fencing in Ruato¯ria and helped with the search, said about five people had been searching for the boy in the thick bush when one of the men heard a voice.
“He heard a kid’s voice so shot up and saw him jump out of the bush basically.”
Axle then started asking the rescuer for his mum.
“He was just wanting his mum. All he was asking for was his mum.”
He was then driven home in a ute and was sitting in the passenger seat on a woman’s — understood to be a family member’s — lap.
Hailey said the search and rescue organisers had just been about to send volunteers up the track road to start combing through the dense bush when word got out that the boy had been found. “Everyone was pretty elated, pretty relieved.”
An emotional Jeffery said he had to wipe away tears when he saw the 3-year-old reunited with his parents just before 11am yesterday.