A Queensland couple stranded deep in the heart of Croc Country have been brought to safety after a three-day ordeal running from crocodiles and drinking muddy flood water.
Rescuers found the couple, aged in their 50s, on Saturday after their 4×4 was swept away by floodwaters while traveling between Normanton and Kowanyama, in far north Queensland.
LifeFlight pilot Michael Adair said the couple had all but given up on being found after two nights stranded inside.
“These people had resigned themselves to dying and seeing the look on their faces when they saw us and realized they weren’t going to die – that’s why we do this,” he said.
The couple was driving on a remote road when a torrent of water swept their 4×4 off the road crossing Clark Creek.
The couple and their two dogs managed to escape but their vehicle and all their belongings were swept away.
The couple endured 40C heat, relentless insects and drank muddy river water to survive, while their dogs limped after them.
An extensive search was launched after the missing couple failed to arrive in Kowanyama at the scheduled time.
A couple, both in their 50s, and their dogs were rescued by LifeFlight on Saturday after a three-day ordeal in FNQ.
The LifeFlight crew saw ‘SOS’ messages scraped into the ground and the couple waving frantically next to them.
But flooded roads prevented Queensland police from conducting ground searches.
The LifeFlight crew covered 500 km of desert and finally saw a huge SOS written in the ground six hours into the flight on Saturday and the couple waving frantically from below.
When he descended, the couple couldn’t believe they were being saved.
“They said ‘thank God you’re here, we didn’t think anyone would come’,” Mr Adair said.
“The wife told us that she had been hearing voices in the bush because of the exposure and that she had become convinced that no one would come to help them, so she was very emotional when we hugged her,” he said.
The couple revealed that they had been terrified while stranded in the harsh, remote environment with no tools or resources.
They were also stalked by a crocodile during the two-night ordeal and tried to build a makeshift shelter out of branches and leaves to protect themselves from the predator.
Floodwaters had swept away the couple’s 4×4 loaded with all their belongings as they drove between two remote villages inland from the Gulf of Carpentaria.
The relieved couple told their rescuers they had “resigned to die” after surviving two nights in difficult terrain.
Originally from New Zealand, Adair rescued the couple on his first mission in Australia and with LifeFlight.
His co-pilot, Mark Overton, joked that Adair was used to different environments at home.
“Mike is used to flying in a completely different environment and we threw him in the middle of the outback and on his first job he was sent to the middle of nowhere,” he said.
‘The distance we had to travel to get from Mount Isa to the north of Normanton, near Kowanyama, was very, very great and the difference between New Zealand and Australia was enormous.
“He was a little taken aback by how big Australia can be.”
“He said ‘choice’ a lot,” Mr. Adair said.
“I was looking down and saw all sorts of Australian animals – kangaroos, cattle and crocodiles.
‘I’ve been in the rescue industry for five years in New Zealand, but it was wonderful to have that as my first experience in rescue helicopter operations in Australia.
‘Not only is it a really challenging mission from a technical point of view, but it also has a perfect outcome. “It was an incredible start to my rescue career in Australia.”