23-year-old man found alive in the Kosciuszko National Park

ABC NEWS (Australia)

A 23-year-old hiker has been found alive after almost two weeks missing in the Snowy mountains. The relief was clear to see on Hadi Nazari’s face as he was reunited with his worried friends. The massive search operation ended with Hadi being discovered by other hikers near blue lake in the Kosciuszko National Park. He was about ten kilometres south-east of Geehi the last place his friends had seen him on Boxing day.

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00:00This is the moment Hardy Nazari's friends and family prayed for, but feared would never

00:08come.

00:09The embrace of a loved one, lost and now found, after almost two weeks alone.

00:14He looks pretty healthy you know, a miracle I would say.

00:19Hardy Nazari went missing on Boxing Day while hiking with two friends.

00:23This afternoon one of them expressed his joy and relief at seeing him again.

00:27I'm kind of like in a shock and like full of happiness.

00:32He's a hero, like 14 days without food, like he's doing like perfectly well.

00:37This is the 14th day we've been looking for him and for him to come out and be in such

00:42good spirits and in such great condition, it's incredible.

00:46In the dense bushland of Kosciuszko National Park, more than 300 emergency crews spanning

00:51several agencies took part in the search.

00:54In the end, the 23-year-old was found by passing hikers outside the official search

00:59zone, 10 kilometres away from where he first went missing.

01:03When emergency services arrived shortly afterwards, he was winched to safety.

01:08There's some creeks up there and he said he'd been finding water where he could and foraging

01:14for food where he could in terms of berries.

01:16At one point he said he found a couple of muesli bars in a hut.

01:20The 23-year-old was assessed by paramedics undergoing a range of medical tests before

01:25letting out a smile.

01:28Once Hardy had been confirmed found, emergency services here at the base camp of operations

01:33in Gee Hai let out a round of applause.

01:36He left this area by ambulance at around 5 o'clock.

01:40His family friends says he's being taken to Cooma Hospital, two hours away for further

01:45treatment.

01:46While the search was a long one, family were given hope on Sunday when items belonging

01:50to Hardy were discovered alongside a makeshift camp.

01:54His sister has released a statement on behalf of the family.

01:57We are so grateful that Hardy is safe and sound.

02:01We are grateful for everyone involved in helping us find my brother.

02:06Just happy and grateful to God that we found him.

02:09He's very close to us.

02:11Two weeks of intense stress giving way to overwhelming joy after an extraordinary tale

02:16of survival.

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