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 Police say they nearly didn't find Anthony 'AJ' Elfalak due to rugged bush terrain

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Neferti
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Neferti


Posts : 2534
Join date : 2018-07-15

Police say they nearly didn't find Anthony 'AJ' Elfalak due to rugged bush terrain Empty
PostSubject: Re: Police say they nearly didn't find Anthony 'AJ' Elfalak due to rugged bush terrain   Police say they nearly didn't find Anthony 'AJ' Elfalak due to rugged bush terrain EmptyWed 08 Sep 2021, 1:10 pm

Bobby2 wrote:
Neferti wrote:
Bobby2 wrote:
Why didn't they use sniffer dogs?

The article says that they used the dog squad, I presume that is what you mean?

Yes - why didn't that work?

I have no idea.  Perhaps we will find out later as I understand that further investigations are being undertaken.
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Bobby2

Bobby2


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Police say they nearly didn't find Anthony 'AJ' Elfalak due to rugged bush terrain Empty
PostSubject: Re: Police say they nearly didn't find Anthony 'AJ' Elfalak due to rugged bush terrain   Police say they nearly didn't find Anthony 'AJ' Elfalak due to rugged bush terrain EmptyWed 08 Sep 2021, 9:45 am

Neferti wrote:
Bobby2 wrote:
Why didn't they use sniffer dogs?

The article says that they used the dog squad, I presume that is what you mean?

Yes - why didn't that work?
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Neferti
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Neferti


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Police say they nearly didn't find Anthony 'AJ' Elfalak due to rugged bush terrain Empty
PostSubject: Re: Police say they nearly didn't find Anthony 'AJ' Elfalak due to rugged bush terrain   Police say they nearly didn't find Anthony 'AJ' Elfalak due to rugged bush terrain EmptyTue 07 Sep 2021, 8:21 pm

Bobby2 wrote:
Why didn't they use sniffer dogs?

The article says that they used the dog squad, I presume that is what you mean?
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Bobby2

Bobby2


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Police say they nearly didn't find Anthony 'AJ' Elfalak due to rugged bush terrain Empty
PostSubject: Re: Police say they nearly didn't find Anthony 'AJ' Elfalak due to rugged bush terrain   Police say they nearly didn't find Anthony 'AJ' Elfalak due to rugged bush terrain EmptyTue 07 Sep 2021, 7:25 pm

Why didn't they use sniffer dogs?
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Neferti
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Neferti


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Police say they nearly didn't find Anthony 'AJ' Elfalak due to rugged bush terrain Empty
PostSubject: Police say they nearly didn't find Anthony 'AJ' Elfalak due to rugged bush terrain   Police say they nearly didn't find Anthony 'AJ' Elfalak due to rugged bush terrain EmptyTue 07 Sep 2021, 4:53 pm

Police say they nearly didn't find Anthony 'AJ' Elfalak due to rugged bush terrain

Police say there is "no doubt" rescuers walked right past missing toddler Anthony 'AJ' Elfalak during his three-day ordeal but the terrain hindered their ability to spot him.
Three-year-old AJ was found alive after spending three days alone in extremely rugged bush in the New South Wales Hunter Valley.
The toddler, who has autism and is non-verbal, was spotted drinking muddy water at a creek by a police helicopter yesterday about 11:30am.
He was only 200 metres from where he went missing on his family's property at Putty, near Singleton, about midday on Friday.
Aviation commander Detective Superintendent Brad Monk said the search team must have walked right past AJ.
"There's no doubt that the young fella was in close proximity of searchers during and throughout the search.
"It's just dense terrain and if you're unable to see him with the naked eye, then you will simply walk past his location. There's no doubt that would have happened."
This morning, as she was clutching AJ on the veranda of the family property, his mother Kelly told the media she was blessed her son was safely home.
"I can't explain it, I am so blessed, I am so happy that he's here, he's with us safe and well and healthy, that's all that matters."
"I want to thank everybody, everyone, the media, the police the. RFS, the SES, everybody that prayed for us and helped find him."
Detective Superintendent Monk said AJ may have been sleeping in the several caves or holes that are in the area which meant their thermal imaging provided no clues to his whereabouts.
"The search was thorough and it was intense and it was just unfortunate that it took three days given that terrain to locate the young fella."
He said the PolAir team spotted AJ just before they ran out of fuel and only had just enough time to communicate his coordinates to the State Emergency Service (SES) teams on the ground.
"Any longer and we may not have found him ... luck was on our side on this occasion.
"The crew make sure that number one safety is always maintained but they will push [the aircraft] as far as they can.
"We were then able to depart and refuel."
SES volunteer Greg Chalmers was the first person to reach AJ.
His team of volunteers had searched the top of a ridge near the homestead in cold and wet conditions on Saturday night.
But yesterday they were tasked to navigate down the same mountain to a creek line that went to the homestead.
"It took us about three hours to navigate our way down about close to 350 metres of cliff face, rocks, gullies," Mr Chalmers said.
"I was following the gully around, climbing in all the wombat holes and I found a hole with a foot print in it … it didn’t seem right, as I pulled my head out and standing in the river there, the chopper was above us.”
The police helicopter had spotted AJ and were directing the volunteers on the ground to where he was.
"It was only 15 metres away from me, we would have stepped on him within minutes,” Mr Chalmers said.
He said he would never forget the look on the little boy's face when he was found.
"This poor little man, just kneeled in the water drinking this water just trying to keep hydrated," he said.
"I put my hand on his shoulder, knowing his condition, and the chopper noise was loud, he looked around, he had a smile on his face, he just didn't believe it."
Asked about seeing the smile, Mr Chalmers responded, "I'll never forget that one, it pulled at my heart".
"I sat down in the river with beside him and talked to him, gave him a drink...
"He was sitting on my lap, he was so cold, freezing, it was unbelievable.
"He touched my name tag and my badges and played with the radio and I just said 'come on mate, we'll go and find mummy'. 
"He wouldn't let go, the trek was 700 metre hike out of the bush and he wouldn't let go and then he finally fell asleep, Alicia (SES) was singing to him behind us and he went to sleep."
Special Constable Kevin Drake was the pilot on the police helicopter and said the pressure was on to find AJ as his survival time was fading.
"The kid doesn't speak so yelling out isn't going to be an option," he said.
He said the only reason AJ was spotted was the movement of him reaching into the creek for water.
"When we were guiding the SES in two of them even walked straight passed him."
Leading Senior Constable Jonathan Smith was operating the camera and said it was wonderful to see AJ's image come up on the screen.
“We were all emotional and I said to the boys once we were heading back for fuel, 'if that doesn't make you happy nothing will' ... we've been involved in many jobs that don't turn out like this and have been the other end of the spectrum.”
AJ left Maitland Hospital with his mother last night to return to home where his family were celebrating his rescue with a traditional Lebanese BBQ and bonfire.
The boy was relatively unscathed but had nappy rash, ant bites and had fallen over, according to his father, Anthony Elfalak.
Hundreds of people — including PolAir, the dog squad, divers, the mounted unit, SES, Rural Fire Service (RFS) and Volunteer Rescue Association (VRA) personnel — were part of the team who worked to find AJ.
Police said they would continue to investigate the circumstances around why the boy went missing to understand what occurred.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-09-07/missing-boy-was-passed-by-search-teams-days-ago/100439236


Last edited by Neferti on Tue 07 Sep 2021, 8:20 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Police say they nearly didn't find Anthony 'AJ' Elfalak due to rugged bush terrain Empty
PostSubject: Re: Police say they nearly didn't find Anthony 'AJ' Elfalak due to rugged bush terrain   Police say they nearly didn't find Anthony 'AJ' Elfalak due to rugged bush terrain Empty

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