A 26-year-old former Melburnian has been found alive after spending seven days lost in the remote desert west of Alice Springs – thanks to the persistence of his community, after police called off their search.
Members of the local South Sudanese community, led by the African Association of Central Australia, continued the search for Gach Top after police suspended efforts five days into their search.
An image of Gach Top that police released in the hopes of finding him.Credit: NT Police
Roughly 30 young men and women, mobilised by association chair Chuol Yat, combed 10 kilometres of terrain for up to five hours on Monday with the hope that Top was still alive.
“The community search was a result of the police decision to suspend the search after five days … the community still had hope that Gach would be found alive,” he said.
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After hours of searching, Top was eventually found by a local Indigenous community, who notified his family.
“He was wrapped in a blanket and was exhausted,” Yat said. “The family, including the community, are overjoyed because many of us felt that this young man was not dead. He was found alive, and everybody was so happy.”
Top had been missing since late afternoon on Monday, July 28, and was last seen wearing a red or orange puffer jacket, cream-coloured tracksuit pants, and dark-coloured runners.
NT Police said the alarm was raised after “he failed to attend work for a rostered shift that night … Gach was driving his red Mazda CX5, which was located [that Monday] morning by police”.