00:00Holding hands burnt by 13 days in the sun, Hadi Nazari's rescuers help him up the hill
00:11to safety. Cousins Josh and Jess Dart were in a party of passing hikers who finally spotted
00:18him.
00:18As we were approaching him we were like, who is this? Who could it be? Surely not.
00:24That morning I'd actually seen a poster of him in the National Park Office and I recognised
00:28his scarf because he was wearing it in the photo. And then when we were close enough
00:33to hear each other I was like, what's your name? And then he shouted out that his name
00:37was Hadi and I was like, oh my gosh, I think this is the guy.
00:41James Clark was the first to see him.
00:43He started yelling out for help. He started yelling, stay there. The first reaction was
00:48maybe, I don't know, exhaustion, happy exhaustion. He sort of, the fact that he's finally found
00:53someone.
00:53I said, you went missing on Boxing Day, right? And he's like, yeah, I've been out here for
00:57eight days. All I've eaten is two muesli bars. I showed him the calendar on my phone and
01:02I was like, it's the 8th of January, you've been out here for 13 days. And we both burst
01:07into tears and hugged each other.
01:10The news quickly reached his worried family in Melbourne.
01:13He called us straight away and he said that, I'm found, I'm alive. And we were like, on
01:20the moon, very happy, very grateful. Happiest moment of my life, literally.
01:25After his rescue, the 23-year-old was taken to Cooma Hospital where he was treated for
01:29dehydration and enjoyed his first proper meal in a fortnight.
01:33He had a sandwich last night and a few Powerades and he was excited to eat.
01:41He's doing well, he's recovering. Obviously he's dehydrated so he needs, I think, some
01:46more time. He might stay there for a couple of days.
01:49More than 300 emergency crew took part in the search for Hadi in Kosciuszko National
01:54Park in the statement he's thanked them for their tireless work in tough conditions.
02:00I am very grateful for the rescuers and volunteers involved in searching for me. May God bless
02:05them all.
02:06He was just so thankful. He was just like, praise God. And then when he saw the helicopter
02:12come over, he got all excited. He stood up and he went to shake all our hands and he
02:17was thanking all of us.
02:18He's probably the real hero of the story because that's sort of the grit that it would
02:21require to survive the way that he had.
02:24So will the hero's journey have a sequel?
02:26When we found him and he was keen to go for another hike and I was like, no more hiking
02:31for you.
02:33At least not any time soon.
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