It has been a hellish two weeks for Australian tourist Andrew Gaskell, who went missing on October 20 in the Mulu National Park in Sarawak.
As his body started getting weaker by the day, Andrew was doing all he could to survive.
Then, on Tuesday, his prayers were answered when a Search and Rescue team reportedly found him in a section of the forest known as ‘Hidden Valley’.
According to a report by The Star Online, the 28-year-old was found by the SAR’s ground party at around 1.30pm in a very weak state.
He was in such bad shape that he reportedly had to be winched up into a helicopter. He was then transported by helicopter from Mulu to the Miri Hospital at about 3pm.
Zone 6 Miri Fire and Rescue Department (Bomba) station chief Supt Law Poh Kiong told the news portal that apart from minor injuries, he is reported to be fine.
More than 60 search and rescue personnel from the Fire and Rescue Department, the civil defence department, Sarawak Forestry rangers as well as the police reportedly took part in the operation, combing three different locations at the Mulu Summit, Racers Cave and Bukit Susu.
Meanwhile, Andrew told Australian news site ABC News in a phone interview that he resorted to eating wild ferns to stay alive.
“These last few days I picked up a few wild ferns from the jungle, aside from that I ate virtually nothing — I was getting weaker and weaker every day,” he told the portal.
Andrew also told ABC News that he had “infected cuts” on his feet and was bitten by “a lot of things”, but other than that, he sustained no other injuries.
On October 18, Andrew reportedly set off on a solo trekking adventure into the Mulu National Park, famous for its vast network of caves, underground rivers, steep mountains and sharp limestone rocks.
When his family members failed to get in touch with him, they reported him missing to the Tasmania Police on October 27.
