Thirty hours after crashing their car in a remote road designed for four wheel drives three French backpackers decided to go on the look out for help. The crash happened 80km north-east of Lake King in the Frank Hann National Park.
The road receives very little traffic which you think would have prompted the three backpackers to try and search for help themselves rather than wait for a lucky break.
“They left a note inside their station wagon and grabbed their remaining supplies and set out on foot along the Lake King-Norseman Road bound for Norseman, some 150km away” according to 7 news.
Over 23 hours they covered 40km, where a motorist came to their aid. The motorist put the call in for emergency services as they or some reason where unable to take the backpackers into town.
Ravensthorpe police and State Emergency Service volunteers launched a search for the backpackers and eventually found them huddled inside a one-person tent about 10pm according to 7 news.
Other reports include they were dehydrated with blistered feet and sore legs, but otherwise healthy.
They were very lucky according to Sergeant Jamie Paterson who said yesterday’s showers could have closed the road.
He went on to say that “They’ve placed themselves in an extremely dangerous situation and if it wasn’t for that person who drove past them, they all could have died,”.
He also highlighter that “Don’t take a two-wheel drive on a four-wheel drive track and stay with your vehicle if you’re stranded”
“Appreciate the vast distances in Australia and appreciate that remote areas have limited traffic and limited phone coverage”
Where you have a backpacker job or fruit picking work in a remote area they key is to be smart when travelling in remote areas, especially when there’s limited phone reception.
