Survivor fears for pals lost in the Outback for 13 nights
A WOMAN rescued after being stranded for 12 nights in the Australian Outback spoke yesterday of her fears for two friends who were still missing.
Tamra McBeath-Riley was being treated in an Alice Springs hospital for dehydration and exposure after she was found late on Sunday. But the air search was continuing for missing Claire Hockridge, 46, and Phu Tran, 40.
The three set out from Alice Springs for an afternoon drive on November 19 but their car got bogged down in a riverbed south-west of the town.
McBeath-Riley, 52, and her pals found a waterhole about a mile north of the car. ‘Sensibly she appears to have stayed where the water is and has been drinking that and that’s probably what kept her going,’ Supt Pauline Vicary said.
Ms McBeath-Riley told police her companions began trekking 12 miles towards a highway on Thursday. They planned to avoid the desert heat, which has come close to 40C recently, by walking at night and carrying up to 15 pints of water.
Police said the pair would now be ‘severely dehydrated’ after being lost for 13 nights.
Ms McBeath-Riley decided to stay put as she did not think her dog, Raya, would survive the walk to the Stuart Highway, which connects Australia’s north and south coasts. The party did not know that a search had been mounted. ‘When the helicopter found me, I thought that Claire and Phu had reached the highway. So to find that’s not the case is worrying,’ McBeath-Riley told reporters.
Supt Vicary said searchers had found one set of footprints in the ‘diverse’ terrain, adding the pair had little food.
A cattle rancher was key to the rescue, telling police he spotted tyre tracks in an unsearched area. Police were then able to locate Ms McBeath-Riley.