Searches are continuing for two men lost in two distinctly remote parts of Australia but hopes have been raised in both cases with the discovery of footprints.
Indigenous rangers have joined Northern Territory emergency services in the search for 28-year old Allan Nadjamerrek, who went missing in Kakadu national park more than a week ago.
Nadjamerrek, who is hearing impaired, went missing after the car he was travelling in broke down on Kakadu Highway on 3 October, and the occupants walked 3km to the Jim Jim ranger station where they stayed overnight.
About 9pm Nadjamerrek left on foot and has not been seen since. He is described as being tall and slim, and was last seen wearing camouflage pants and a West Coast Eagles football jersey.
Police hold “serious concerns” for his welfare, according to Supt Craig Barrett.
NT police said the discovery of footprints on Jim Jim Road suggested the person may have been picked up by a car but it was not possible to confirm the footprints belonged to Nadjamerrek.
Members of the Territory response group are coordinating the air and ground search for Nadjamerrek, with assistance from local police, Kakadu rangers, traditional owners and staff from a nearby resort.
The search coordinator, Sgt Neil Mellon, told the ABC the search had been delayed because friends did not report him as missing until Wednesday.
Nadjamerrek is described as an artist from the east Arnhem Land community of Gunbalanya (Oenpelli), as well as a part-time ranger with Warddeken Land Management.
Across the border in Western Australia, the sister-in-law of a 62-year-old man who went missing in the Goldfields region has said there is a “glimmer of hope” after footprints were found by people from a nearby Indigenous community.
Reginald George Foggerdy, 62, went missing while on a hunting trip with his brother, Ray.
Foggerdy has been described as an experienced bushman who was last seen on Wednesday leaving the Shooter’s Shack camp, about 170km east of Laverton in central WA. He failed to return to the camp later than night, the ABC reported.
Susan Foggerdy told Perth Now her husband, Ray, was still searching for his brother, but she hadn’t been able to reach him because of poor phone signal. “I don’t think you’ll get him away from there until they find him,” she said.
Land and air searches for continued on Saturday night and were joined by a helicopter on Sunday. A police fixed-wing plane was to join the search later in the day.
