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A 17-year-old boy has been found alive after going missing for six days while camping in dense bushland in Victoria’s east.
William, whose surname has not been publicly disclosed, disappeared on 6 November while camping with a friend near Walhalla East, about 180km east of Melbourne.
He had left his phone, food and water at the campsite, prompting a major search involving more than 100 people, police divers, sniffer dogs and helicopters.
Victoria Police said in a statement that “the 17-year-old was with a friend when he was last seen in the vicinity of Stoney Creek Road, between Cowwarr and Walhalla, near T2 Track on Friday 6 November about 4pm”.
William was dropped off by his mother “for the purposes of camping for the weekend when he walked a short distance to the drop-off location to retrieve further camping equipment”.
“When he failed to return shortly after, his friend searched the area but found no trace of Will.”
A police helicopter spotted his fishing tackle box about 2km north-east of Stoney Creek on Wednesday morning.
“Air Wing were conducting an aerial search of the Cowwarr area when they spotted a tacklebox in bushland around 2km east from Stoney Creek,” the police said.
