PLB.....PLB.....PLB

Hi Candace

Their day trip has now turned out to be 2 weeks of hell.

As you know, our Australian Outback is never to be taken lightly and even if just for a day drive and you do get bogged and no way of getting out, authorities would rather a PLB be triggered and finding the people safe, than now 2 weeks later trying to find a needle in a hay stack.

It now looks like they will have an almost impossible situation of finding them alive, as when they split up, they can only find 1 set of foot prints.


Cheers


Stephen

Hi Candace, I think to some degree you are right, but i'm sure the Police and rescue would rather you use the PLB early than wait for two weeks and having spent hundreds of man hours looking for them first. The first lady they found said she was worried that no one was looking for them, the main reason for leaving the vehicle. In that situation I would be using whatever i had after a few days if things were looking grim. Michael

The PLB is the at the head of things to own. It is the first and most important item you buy. Everything else is a backup to that, not the other way round. That is why epirbs are mandatory on offshore vessels - they mostly all carry satphones too but they aren’t mandatory. I choose a PLB over a sat phone every time as a first choice lifesaving device, then fill in the blanks underneath depending on the activity.

The basic and most important thing to know when you own a 4WD and you're heading into remote regions, is to know how to de-bog a bogged vehicle - and carry enough de-bogging equipment to ensure you CAN get out.

The number of people who have perished in this countrys interior, when they got bogged, and couldn't get their vehicle out of the bogged situation, probably runs into the hundreds now.

I learnt the hard way, in the old days, most of us only has 2WD's and we utilised them on what would be classed as 4WD roads today.

I know I got myself into some tight situations several times, with youthful enthusiasm, and a lack of reading the conditions. But I always managed to extricate my vehicle.

And I always carry 20 litres of water with me, and a few cans of tucker in the vehicle, when I'm in remote and even isolated rural areas. Failure to carry even basic life-preserving stuff has led to numerous deaths.

Cheers, Ron.

Hi Mike

It does not look good for the 2 people still missing and for the lady to survive 2 weeks is incredible.

Why they split up, was their first major mistake.



Cheers


Stephen

Hi Joe

Unfortunately, that news was not relayed here in South Australia.

The sad fact of life is that far too many people have the attitude that "it will never happen to me"

I am like you and feel that the remaining two people may never be found, but we still we can live in hope.

I can still not understand why they split up.....that just seems crazy.

The latest news here on the radio this morning, that after being bogged, they left the vehicle with a packet of biscuits and found that small waterhole around one and a half kilometres from their car. They stayed there for 5 days and when the biscuits were all gone they thought that no was was ever going to come and look for them, and that is when they split up. Like typical desert temperatures, the surviving lady said that nigh temperatures were so cold, they dug a small hole and all had to huddle each other to keep warm.

The man and women had a compass and were going to walk west toward the main Stuart Highway, and from that point seem to have vanished.




NEW FLASH........

The man has just been found alive and rushed to Alice Springs Hospital.

The other lady is still missing.

Hi CSeaJay

It has just been posted on the news that the man has just been found alive by a station hand that had been out searching for them and rushed to Alice Springs Hospital, while they are still looking for the other lady.

That is amazing news.

Hi Rocco

It sure is, and let’s hope they find the other lady

Hi Michael

Totally agree and they have just said the man was found more than 20 kilometres from where the car was bogged.

He was found at a bore and was one very lucky man to be found alive.

The Police are now waiting to speak to him to see where the missing lady may be found

Hi Braincell

Agree and they thought it was going to be a short, couple of hours drive, that has turned into a two week ordeal.

The first lady and the owner/driver of the car was a local (Alice Springs).

Same here Dave, and as I always push, it is the cheapest piece of life saving equipment any traveller can own.

Hi Shane

Fingers crossed they should find the lady very soon, as they have now greatly narrow downed the search area.

The cheapest form of insurance, is still a PLB, with no on going costs, with the KT1 the way to go.

You can pick up a KT1 for under $250, with a 10 year battery life , or if you take all that into account, will cost you around $0.06 cents per day , and what can you buy today for 6 cents?

Let’s hope today brings good news

,
What can you "buy today for 6 cents" Stephen? Well here you go for starters. lol
But seriously, I take your point and agree wholeheartedly.

I am driving to Fremantle in a few minutes . Very dangerous on the road at this time of day. Should I wait till later? Get an ambulance escort?

Seriously though, maybe people should stop using “stupid” in relation to those who die in tragic circumstances.

I have done my share of stupid, many things that could have cost me my life or killed or injured others.

I’ll wager I am not alone in that.

Some get to make one, or more mistakes, Others are not so lucky.

Rocco, I agree - but you make your own level of luck, by the amount of preparation you indulge in, and the amount of care you take, in dangerous situations.

We all know that youthful inexperience often leads to unnecessary deaths, particularly when youthful bravado is also involved.

But when you reach an expected degree of maturity and knowledge (usually around 25, but some take a little longer), one expects that those of mature age are more aware of the risks involved in their exploration activity, and make more preparation, and exercise a little more care.

Cheers, Ron.

I followed the local 4x4 guys helping search for them on 4x4earth.com and various FB groups. Tragic.

As I do not have a subscription the link does not fully open.

It appears they were running drugs..

From the Weekend Australian -

"Search parties scouring the outback for three people lost for more than a fortnight found drugs shortly before they discovered the body of the last missing person.

Police sources said the drugs were found near Palmer Valley Station, south of Alice Springs, on the same day last week that the body of 46-year-old Claire Hockridge was located nearby.

Hockridge, her partner, Tamra McBeath-Riley, 52, and their friend Phu Tran, 40, went missing while four-wheel-driving on November 19. The group’s disappearance was not reported to police for four days.

Hockridge and Ms McBeath-Riley have both been convicted of smuggling trafficable quantities of drugs between Adelaide and Alice Springs. Court records show each struggled with addiction over many years.

While the amount and type of drugs found on December 4 have not been revealed, detectives from the Northern Territory Police Regional Investigations Division are understood to be treating the find as significant.

Aerial search teams spotted Ms McBeath-Riley on December 1 huddling not far from the group’s bogged ute in the dry bed of the Finke River.

She told media gathered at Alice Springs Hospital the next day that the group had taken a wrong turn while driving to Chambers Pillar, a scenic spot some distance from where the ute was found.
Palmer Valley Station pastoralist Ted Fogarty met Mr Tran while doing a bore run early on December 3, about 12km from where he and Hockridge are believed to have left Ms McBeath-Riley on November 28.

Ms McBeath-Riley has said the trio and a dog called Raya survived for about a week by eating beef noodles and Scotch Finger biscuits and drinking premixed vodka and groundwater filtered through a shirt.

After that, Hockridge and Mr Tran decided to walk about 25km to the Stuart Highway to get help, fearing no one knew they were missing. Hockridge is believed to have separated from Mr Tran on the day Ms McBeath-Riley was found.

It is understood the drugs were located a few hours before the searchers found Hockridge’s body.

A police spokeswoman declined to discuss the details of the drug find.

She confirmed that no drugs had been discovered on either Ms McBeath-Riley or Mr Tran, and that no charges had been laid."

Looks to me like only one of them got capital punishment. Seems a bit of a shame the others didn't, too.

Cheers, Ron.

Thanks for that update Ron

Seasons Greetings