Concern grows for missing 76-year-old Tasmanian man

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Authorities have covered more than 110 hectares of bushland in bushland, as they ramp up the search for a missing Tasmanian man. Peter Willoughby has a medical condition that can cause him to become disoriented and as time passes, concern is growing

Transcript

00:00Scouring dense bushland for any signs of a missing man.

00:0776-year-old Peter Willoughby has been somewhere in the Hollybank Reserve Forest

00:12near Launceston since Sunday, but the authorities haven't lost hope.

00:17This is still a search mission. We are still looking to try and locate Mr Willoughby

00:21and return him to his family and friends.

00:23Rescue efforts have scaled up to horseback.

00:27Horses can travel quite fast. It's a bit slower in this terrain.

00:31We are a little bit more elevated too.

00:33So we can sort of look down into places which you might not see when you're on foot.

00:38The search has also included crews on foot and ATVs and a drone.

00:43But wind stops the helicopter from taking flight.

00:46So far, searches have only uncovered a footprint.

00:50We haven't been able to confirm whether that belonged to Mr Willoughby,

00:53but there has been intensive searching in that area

00:55and we found nothing else to assist us to locate Mr Willoughby.

00:59Mr Willoughby was dropped off in the reserve on Sunday to pick up his car,

01:03which became stuck earlier last week.

01:05But he walked into the bush and hasn't been seen since.

01:09Mr Willoughby was not an overly mobile gentleman,

01:12but I understand he's a very determined gentleman.

01:15So we also need to take into account the fact that he may have travelled some distance.

01:20Tasmania is well known for packing four seasons into one day.

01:24We've experienced sunshine, rain and wind carrying a real bite.

01:29There's also rough terrain like rocks, tree stumps and streams, all concerning for a rescue.

01:36Teams are now moving into new areas they haven't yet searched,

01:40throwing everything they can at the mission to bring Mr Willoughby home alive.

01:44We will continue searching until we're satisfied we've covered the highest area of probability

01:50and then we'll continue to reassess how much more ground we do need to search.

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