Bushman is being treated in Western Australian hospital after being found by police who followed his footprints for 15km

Perth man Reg Foggerdy has been found alive after six days lost in the desert in central Western Australia.

The 62-year-old was found by police about 6am on Tuesday and has been flown to Kalgoorlie hospital for treatment. The ABC reported police search teams found Foggerdy after following a fresh trail of footprints, which were discovered on Monday, for 15km.

Kalgoorlie police Superintendent Andy Greatwood told ABC radio that Foggerdy had “no water whatsoever for six days” and was “extremely dehydrated [and a] bit delusional” when he was first found, but was able to talk after receiving first aid.

“The amazing news is his last couple of days of survival were achieved by lying down under a tree and eating black ants, so that’s the level of survival that Mr Foggerdy has gone to,” Greatwood said.

Foggerdy had been missing since Wednesday when he left Shooter’s Shack campsite on the edge of the Great Victoria Desert, 1,120km east of Perth. He was armed with a rifle and planned to hunt the feral camels that roam the Australian interior. He left wearing shorts, a T-shirt, thongs and a baseball cap. Police believe he was not carrying food or water.

When he had not returned by Thursday morning, his brother Ray drove 170km to Laverton, the nearest town, to get enough mobile reception to report him missing to police.

Foggerdy, who has been described by his family as an experienced bushman, appears to have shot and killed a camel a short distance from the camp. The carcass was the central point of the police-coordinated land and aerial search.

Bob Cooper, an outback survival expert who has written a book on the topic, told Guardian Australia that the combination of dehydration, which impairs brain function, and the panic of being lost was “probably the worst thing you can put people through”.

“Fear turns a mishap into a tragedy,” Cooper said. “Just because your car won’t start, that isn’t a tragedy, particularly when it has probably got most of what you need in it. But people panic and start walking.”

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That is what appears to have happened to two men who died in January after abandoning their vehicles and trying to walk for help.



On 4 January, a car driven by a 60-year-old man broke down between Wonganoo and Windidda stations, near Lake Carnegie on the edge of the Little Sandy Desert, about 1,000km north-east of Perth.

According to an ABC report, the man camped next to the car with the woman he was travelling with for one night before setting off the next morning to walk the 48km to Windidda Station in 40C heat. His body was found on the roadside 2km from the station on 7 January. The woman, who remained with the car for an extra night before walking, was found alive by station workers the same day.

Nine days later and about 400km away, Clayton Miller, a 39-year-old truck driver, became bogged on his way to Moorarie Station, 140km north-west of Meekatharra and 15km past the Mileura Station homestead. He started walking back to Mileura after trying and failing to dig the truck out, and made it 13km before doubling back. His body was found 1.1km from his truck, which was reported to be carrying ample water.

Neither man had a satellite phone or an emergency beacon to call for help.

Cooper said dehydration impeded rational thought, which was why so many people ignored survival rule No 1: stay with your vehicle if you have one, and stay with water.

“The organ most affected by dehydration is the brain,” he said. “Your ability to think rationally is diminished by up to 30% and that can happen within an hour.

“The combination of dehydration and fear is probably the worst thing you can put people through. People don’t know where they are going but they are running to it.”

Cooper said reliance on technology should take second place to basic survival skills, like knowing how to use a compass. He said people travelling in remote country, even on routine journeys, should give an explicit itinerary to a trusted person and make sure that person raises the alarm the minute a check-in is missed – not hours later.

People stranded with their car should stay with the vehicle, which in outback areas should contain at least 20 litres, or one week’s worth, of water. More could be collected as it condensed from the vehicle’s air conditioning unit.

He also recommended people stranded start a large smoky fire – the black smoke sent up by a deflated spare tyre is a favoured option – and use mirrors and a foil survival blanket to attract attention from aerial patrols. ABC local radio broadcasts news of every search.

“I have had people in our courses that have … heard their name come on the radio and said, ‘Oh, thank god – they are looking for me.’”

If you are lost or stranded without a car, Cooper said, you should be carrying water, something to light a fire, snake-bite bandages and a foil blanket.

“The police helicopters now have heat-vision cameras and night-vision cameras that can pick up the luminous numbers on a watch from 2km away,” he said. “Make things easier for the people who want to help you.”