Two Missing Girls Found After Surviving Freezing Bushland

A seven-year-old girl has relived the incredible ordeal she and her friend went through, in freezing bushland for nearly 20 hours, before they were rescued after going missing.

Marley Aplin and Rihanna Ryan, also seven years old, were taken to safety yesterday, after getting lost from a campsite, ending hours of search composed of 200 people doing air and ground search in NSW’s central west.

Their families started the widescale search after the girls didn’t return after spending Saturday afternoon exploring bush tracks.

However, the pair, who are best friends at school, were airlifted to safety after they were seen around 11.30am on Sunday. They have been taken to Orange Hospital for medical checks.

From the comforts of her home in Orange last night, Marley, who only suffered a few cuts, recounted the moments she and Rihanna went through in the hills at Ophir Reserve, about 25 kilometres north of Orange in the NSW central west.

“We were climbing up the mountain and saw some kangaroos and we ran away from them and got lost.

“We went up the mountain and fell off “¦ there was a log there to stop us going in the water.

“I hurt my hand, my hip and my face. Rihanna hurt the same thing because she fell down. I tried to save her and I fell on top of her. It was really steep, it was dark,” she said.

Marley also told about how they slept through the night. She said that they made a pillow out of sand and leaves and they stayed there to sleep.

“We also put our jumpers over our knees. When we fell down the hill, my shoe fell off and my socks were really wet and then my other shoe fell off. We got a bit of sleep but not much “¦ it was scary.”

Marley said that they could see a police helicopter and tried to get the attention of rescuers, who eventually found them.

Marley was treated at Orange Hospital before being discharged while Rihanna will have surgery for an injury to her hip.

Speaking to the ABC, NSW Ambulance Chief Inspector Rhys Dive said the girls would be nominated for awards. “We will be nominating them for a NSW Ambulance Star Award for their bravery and looking after each other. They spent the night in the bush last night together, they managed to stay together, it would have been scary for a grown up, let alone two young seven year olds,” he told the ABC.

Sources: Kidspot.com.au, Dailymail.co.uk, Huffingtonpost.com.au and Abc.net.au