Missing Hiker Found Safe After Two Weeks in Australian Bush

thredbo - An Australian hiker who had been missing for nearly two weeks has been found safe and healthy after surviving on two muesli bars he found in a hut.

An Australian hiker who had been missing for nearly two weeks has been found safe and healthy. The 23-year-old man managed to survive on two muesli bars he found in a hut. Nazari went missing on Boxing Day while hiking in the Kosciuszko National Park in the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales. Authorities launched a massive search operation involving 300 people. Over the weekend, some of Nazari's belongings and a campfire were discovered, but the hiker himself remained missing.

It wasn't until Tuesday that some hikers accidentally came across Nazari. 'He called out to them, told them who he was, and that he was lost in the bush,' said Police Inspector Andrew Spliet. 'He was very thirsty.' Nazari found food in a hut: two muesli bars. 'That’s pretty much all he’s eaten in the past two weeks,' said the inspector. The hiker also ate wild berries he found along the way.

Inspector Spliet was impressed by the distance Nazari covered during his disappearance: 'About ten kilometers as the crow flies through dense bushland. How he did that exactly is something we'll discuss with him.' The inspector is relieved that the hiker is safe, as is Nazari's family. 'This is the happiest day of our lives,' they said in a statement to local media.

Video footage from a helicopter of the NSW Rural Fire Service showing Nazari and the hikers who found him.