Hiker’s first words to relieved family after 13 days missing

The sister of Hadi Nazari, who had been missing for almost two weeks in NSW’s Kosciuszko National Park, said he had immediately called his family after being found.

Nazari, 23, went missing on December 26 after heading down the Hannels Spur Trail at Geehi, sparking a major rescue mission to find the stranded medical student.

He managed to stay alive after finding a hut in the mountains and two muesli bars before several hikers came across him yesterday near Blue Lake, about 10km from the command post in Geehi.

He had been calling out for help when he was found about 3.15pm.

“They were crying seeing Hadi alive and Hadi had a lot of tears in his eyes as well,” sister Zahra Nazari said.

Zahra said her brother asked to borrow their phone and immediately called his family to let them know “I’m found, I’m alive”.

“Happiest moment of my life, literally couldn’t ask god for anything better than that,” she said.

Zahra thanked everyone involved in the search, including the group of hikers who found him, who she said were “angels”.

“I stand before you today with a heart full of relief, thankfulness, gratitude and profound appreciation for the remarkable work done by the search and rescue team to find my brother,” she said.

“The extent of what you have done is beyond words. Time seemed to stop when we found out our brother was missing and every second seemed to drag on forever.”

Hadi is recovering in Cooma Hospital. He is hoped to return home in a few days.

Hadi released a statement expressing his gratitude in a statement from his hospital bed.

“I would like to thank everyone who has wished me well in my recovery and prayed for me,” he said.

“I am very grateful for the rescuers and volunteers involved in searching for me, may God bless them all.”

“I cannot thank everyone enough.” 

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the whole nation would have rejoiced to learn Hadi had been rescued.

“It is remarkable and I think everyone would have jumped for joy, the whole nation, at this news,” he told media today.

Joshua Dart, one of the hikers who found Hadi, shared photos of him smiling shortly after he was found yesterday.

“Thank God we found the missing hiker on our hike in Kosciuszko!” Dart said in the caption.

In another image, Dart posted a Hadi flashing the peace sign as they waited for search teams and paramedics.

“What a day,” he captioned the photo.

NSW Police also shared a photograph of Hadi winched out of the national park while drinking a Gatorade.

Hadi’s disappearance prompted an expansive search operation across the remote national park involving over 300 SES crew members, NSW Police, search and rescue teams and volunteers.

NSW Police Superintendent Andrew Spliet told media Hadi had no “obvious injuries”.

“He was fine, alert, able to speak,” he said.

“But obviously he’s getting checked out by the medical professionals and we’ll see what comes of that.

“He’s very, very thankful for all the search efforts, thankful that people didn’t give up on him, and the searching efforts continued.”

Hadi had taken camping gear with him for a short camping stint before he was meant to meet his friends at the Geehi Campground, but he never showed up.

He had stopped on the trail to take photos and went missing in the remote national park shortly after.

A search party found a number of items belonging to Hadi on Sunday at a makeshift campsite, including a camera and lighter.

They had also found a hiker pole and rubbish in a separate area on December 31, which are also believed to belong to Hadi.