Man stuck in bushes for 17 hrs

2009-01-12 22:03

Johannesburg - An Australian man who lost his way and got stuck in bramble bushes for 17 hours was expected to consult a doctor on Monday evening, Wilderness Search and Rescue said.

Rescuers had to use an axe to free the 38-year-old from bushes in the Helderberg Mountains on Monday morning, spokesperson Donny Dunn said.

"We searched from 21:00 and only found him at 04:00... tired and thirsty. He had minor injuries and said he will consult a general practitioner later," he said.

The man left the Somerset West nature reserve he was staying in at 11:00 on Sunday to go hiking, only to call staff there in the evening to inform them he was lost.

Wearing only a T-shirt and a pair of shorts, he spent most of the time in the section of the mountain known as the dome.

In a separate incident, a 54-year-old man from Durbanville was rescued on Sunday afternoon after he broke his ankle while hiking along the Nuweberg Mountains in Elgin. This was four hours after he set out to go hiking. He was taken to hospital but discharged the same day.

Meanwhile, the body of an unidentified man believed to have been lying on Lion's Head for about a week was airlifted off Table Mountain on Sunday, Western Cape police said.

Captain Randall Stoffels said the body, believed to be of a man in his forties, was found by a hiker late on Saturday.

"It is believed that the man was running when he fell on the rocks and injured himself. We decided to retrieve the body the following morning as night was already falling by the time we were alerted," said Stoffels.

The decomposing body was taken to a state mortuary where an autopsy would be conducted later this week, he said. An inquest docket had been opened and Stoffels urged anyone who might know of a missing person to contact Constable Jean-Pierre Toua on 021-467-8001/1.

The man was wearing black tracksuit pants with white stripes, a grey T-shirt and white running shoes.

- SAPA