Police searching for missing
British man Aslan King have found a body in a creek in the
Australian bush.
In a statement Victoria Police said the body had not yet been formally identified but that it was “believed to be Aslan King, who was last seen at a camping ground on Old Coach Road about 2am” on Saturday.
Authorities had conducted a large scale search for the missing man from Brighton using a helicopter, boats and mounted police.
The body was found just over a kilometre from where he was last seen.
The 25-year-old illustrator from Brighton vanished after experiencing a seizure-like attack, during which he is believed to have hit his head, whilst on a camping trip with friends in Victoria.
King, an illustrator who only relocated to Australia two weeks ago, is said to have hit his head on the ground before getting up quickly and rushing into thick bushland surrounding the campsite where he and four friends had been staying.
The site is near the town of Princetown, beside cliffs on the Victorian coast near the tourist site known as the Twelve Apostles, a series of rocky outcrops rising out of the ocean some 100 miles south-west of Melbourne.
He is then believed to have suddenly run into bushland surrounding the campsite.
Police said King could have potentially become “disorientated” after sustaining a head injury.
King’s friends attempted to find him immediately after he disappeared into the wilderness, however as the search became more difficult officers became involved.
Police told reporters at the scene during the search that they were initially concentrating on a radius of 300 metres around the campsite, but said efforts to find King had been made difficult by the wild terrain which includes thick vegetation, rocky clifftops, and deep coastal waters.
The area is also known to be home to a significant number of deadly tiger snakes.Police and SES pulling out all stops in their search for missing Brit Aslan King near the Great Ocean Road at Princetown. Crews are scouring the water and bushland near the campsite where the 25yo was last seen @9NewsMelb@msanto92@VictoriaPolice@vicsesnewspic.twitter.com/m6D7cuWFr0— Tom Kelly (@tpwkelly) November 24, 2019During the search, Sergeant Danny Brown of Victoria Police told Channel Nine: “You’re using every sense, whether that be eyes, ears and touch as well,” adding the heat sensors would make “a massive difference, because we’re going to find things in areas that the eye can’t see”.
“Some of this scrub, you have to get on hands and knees to move through it,” he said.
Brown said King’s friends and family had described his disappearance as “completely out of character”.
The Foreign Office, a spokesperson for which had previously confirmed that staff had been”seeking further information” about King’s whereabouts, have been contacted for further comment. Related... British Man Still Missing In Australian Bushland Despite Huge Search Effort