UK tourist rescued after SOS message in sand in Australia Published duration 23 August 2015

image copyright EPA image caption Police say that the SOS message written by Mr Keys probably saved his life

A British tourist who was lost for two days in a remote area of northern Australia has described being rescued after writing an SOS in the sand.

Geoff Keys, 63, lost his way in July after trying to find an isolated waterfall in the Jardine National Park in the state of Queensland.

His disappearance led to a big search by helicopters and other rescuers.

Police told the Brisbane Times newspaper that writing the message had probably saved his life.

Writing on his blog , Mr Keys explained that he was attempting to find the Eliot Falls.

The map showed it was not far away from his campsite, he wrote, so he decided to walk some of the way and swim the rest in a creek.

"My outfit consisted of swimming trunks, a pair of swimming shorts over them, a T-shirt and a hat."

When he was unsuccessful, Mr Keys decided to stop swimming and return to his campsite.

"Instead of turning round and swimming back upstream, I decided to take to the bush and cut across to the track. It was nearly dark. I had no shoes. What was I thinking of?" he wrote.

He wandered around until 02:00 before bedding down for the night. His friends had reported his absence and a helicopter search began the next day.

Mr Keys said he decided to swim downstream and after some time got out to write the SOS message "HELP 2807" [the date, 28 July] with an arrow pointing downstream.

He had to spend another night in the open, and resume swimming again before rescuers noticed the message and eventually winched him to safety.

Police said they had been on the verge of re-directing their search to another area of dense bush land when they saw the SOS.