British backpacker Jamie Neale has been found alive after 12 days lost in the Australian bush - as his father gave up hope of ever seeing him again. The 19-year-old had not been seen since July 3 when he left his hostel in the town of Katoomba, New South Wales, for a walk in the Blue Mountains.
Jamie's father Richard Cass, who flew to Australia to join the search, was set to leave from Sydney after holding a "closure ceremony" and lighting a candle in a park to say goodbye. He said his son, who came "back from the dead", had also been losing hope he would ever be rescued, as search helicopters failed to spot him waving at them.
Police said two bushwalkers found the teenager close to the Narrow Neck fire trail, near Katoomba, and he was taken to a hospital suffering from exhaustion and dehydration.
Mr Cass, after being reunited with his son, said: "He thought he was going to die." Jamie looked "gaunt and scrawny" after surviving on seeds and reeds and sleeping under a log or huddled up in his jacket, Mr Cass said.
Highlighting how Jamie left his phone at the hostel, Mr Cass said: "When I've seen the mistake after mistake he's made, you know, I can't say I'd kill him because obviously that would spoil the point of him coming back. But, yeah, I'm going to kick his arse because I appreciate the millions that have been spent on this search … all because he goes out without his mobile phone.
"The only teenager in the world who goes on a 10-mile trek and leaves his mobile phone." Jamie, from Muswell Hill, north London, had only been in Australia a month when he disappeared. It was his first trip overseas and he had planned to travel on to Kathmandu, Laos, Vietnam and Russia before returning to Britain to start university.
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