I did`nt really know where to put this, but thought it might be interesting to a few of you out there.

I found it whilst reading the Australian news on the internet this moring.

Col



Tourist scrawls SOS and is rescued


A UK tourist has been rescued from a remote West Australian beach after a Coastwatch aircraft spotted an SOS message scrawled in the sand.

Howard Holdsworth's water supply was running dangerously low after spending almost three days stranded on the beach after his vehicle became bogged.

A Broome-based Coastwatch Islander aircraft conducting a routine patrol of the WA coastline located the sand-bogged 4WD at Cape Bertholet, 75 kilometres north of Broome.

The aircraft made a low-level pass that enabled the observers to see the SOS, as well as Mr Holdsworth, 54, waving at the aircraft.

The Customs National Surveillance Centre in Canberra contacted Broome police, who together with the State Emergency Service, mounted a rescue operation.





Mr Holdsworth, who had been travelling alone, said he became bogged after getting lost when he inadvertently drove beyond the nature reserve that was his intended destination.

"Actually the place where I ended up getting stranded for three days was absolutely gorgeous," he said.

Mr Holdsworth, whose family owns a large public transport upholstery company, had been staying with friends in Broome before setting out on his trip.

He was not expected to return to Broome until Friday, and so his friends did not raise the alarm.

Describing himself as a keen naturalist, Mr Holdsworth said he had good knowledge of bush survival skills but found the experience frightening.

"I've got the knowledge but it's being able to use it, because you are in extreme temperatures that I am not used to and it's actually quite hard to think your way out of situations in those kinds of temperatures," he said.

"During the day I kept myself in the shade ... using as little energy as possible, and I worked through the night trying to get the vehicle out.

"I must have shifted tonnes of sand, absolutely tonnes, Jesus!"

Mr Holdsworth shuffled his feet in the wet sand to create the SOS below the high-tide line, to indicate it had been written recently.

"In fact, that's what saved me, because that's exactly what the Coastwatch people noticed."

He will return to Halifax, Yorkshire early next year but has promised to stick to the beaten path until then.




[This message has been edited by Col Campbell (edited 12 December 2003).]

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An aussie escaped from london, now in Dubai.