A 48-YEAR-OLD Rocherlea man missing for 24 hours was found safe and well yesterday morning.
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John Norrish has an acquired brain injury, and was believed to have become lost after leaving his camp site to check the tide levels on Bakers Beach in Narawntapu National Park on Saturday morning.
He was found less than a kilometre away from the search headquarters at 11.25am. SES regional officer Anthony Dick said Mr Norrish had been found by an SES walking crew.
‘‘They were first alerted to a puff of smoke that drew their attention to him. He was just sitting beside a creek and he’d lit a fire,’’ he said.
‘‘He was up and walking around when they found him.’’
Senior Sergeant Simon Conroy said John Norrish had walked for over 10km, was muddy, and had a nasty scratch on his head.
‘‘He is suffering some minor injuries and some exposure, otherwise he will make a full recovery,’’ he said.
‘‘Six degrees (overnight) was very cold, there was a light wind as well which probably dropped the real temperature down to 3 or 4 degrees.’’
‘‘In the condition that we found him in he may have struggled for another night.’’
Mr Norrish had been camping with friends, who were not at the camp site when Mr Norrish left.
His sister Tammy Williams said Mr Norrish had once become lost from Rocherlea, and had later been found at George Town.
‘‘He just walks and walks and walks,’’ she said.
‘‘I’m happy. All night I thought he was going to be gone.’’
An estimated 40 people were involved in the search, including SES volunteers, Police, Parks and Wildlife, the Westpac Rescue Helicopter, and Surf Lifesaving Tasmania.