6 yo Boy Missing In Victorian Bushland Overnight Found Safe

The missing boy with Down Syndrome was found reading in the bush when he was rescued and is now reunited with his family.

Six-year-old Ben Dean, from Victoria, went missing from his Beechworth home in Victoria’s north-east on Wednesday afternoon amidst severe storms.

A large-scale search was immediately launched to find the missing boy who has Down Syndrome. Hundreds of volunteers searched for him overnight and after almost 20 hours, two rescuers, John McLennan and Ben Hill, spotted Ben’s red jumper through trees about one kilometre from his parents’ property. They found Ben suffering hypothermia after being cold and wet in the bush, but in good spirits on Thursday.

“I saw the little red jumper through the trees and there he was.

“Just sitting there, legs crossed reading his book.

“He was surprised to see us. I was worried I scared him a little bit on the bike the way I blasted up to him.

“He had no shoes on. He was wet from the rain and he was shivering so thank God we found him,” Mr McLennan said.

Mr Hill immediately raced over to the little boy, giving him his socks and jacket to keep him warm. The pair said that the boy’s imagination was still running wild when they reached him. “He told me he slid down a couple of things and some bears chased him so he had a rough night by the sound of it, the poor little bugger,” Mr Hill said.

Ben was taken to Albury Hospital where he is now recovering.

Superintendent Paul O’Halloran told 3AW earlier on Thursday that Ben was with a cricket bat playing outside and his mum was inside as she was getting dinner prepared. He said that Ben ‘just wandered off in the space of about 10 minutes.’

The boy went missing as floods engulf Victoria, so the state’s SES Commissioner Craig Lapsley had raised concerns over his welfare and an 88-year-old man who has also been reported missing. “There have been a number of incidents and a number of rescues, 17 rescues have had to be made by emergency services personnel by those caught in flood waters,” Mr Lapsley said before Ben was located.

Ben was reunited with his parents and his mum, Nadia said the family were extremely grateful for all the support they received from the community.

Sources: Au.news.yahoo.com and Dailymail.co.uk