NT: Man survives three months lost in outback

AAP General News (Australia)
04-13-2006
NT: Man survives three months lost in outback

DARWIN, April 13 AAP - A man says he lost 60kg after being lost in the harsh Northern
Territory outback for three months.

Brisbane man Ricky Megee, 35, was found by workers at Birrindudu Station, about 50km
from the homestead near the Northern Territory/West Australian border last week and was
flown to Darwin hospital.

Police say Mr Megee had been in the outback "for a considerable time" and Royal Darwin
Hospital medical director Len Notaras said a tanned Mr Megee arrived at the hospital severely
underweight on April 5.

He spent six days being treated and was released two days ago.

"When he arrived his weight was around 45kg, which is fairly low for a man of about
six feet three inches (1.90m)," Mr Notaras said.

"He was described ... as emaciated, but he was well hydrated and responded very well
over the next few days up until he left hospital.

"It's possible he was in the bush for a period of time."

Mr Megee said he became lost in late January and survived by scrounging for insects to eat.

"I ate the leeches raw, straight out of the dam, grasshoppers I just ate them," Mr
Megee told ABC Radio.

"But the only thing I really sort of had to cook was the frogs which (I) slipped onto
a bit of wire and stuck the wire on top of my humpy, let the sun dry them out a fair bit
until they were a bit crispy and then just ate them."

An NT police spokeswoman said Mr Megee was interviewed by police while he was in hospital.

"... This man spent a considerable amount of time in this area at various dams and
waterholes surviving off the bush," police said in a statement.

"The investigation so far has found no evidence to suggest any criminal offences have
been committed."

Authorities were still trying to locate the man's vehicle, a 2001 white Mitsubishi
Challenger station wagon, with Queensland registration 398-GDY, police said in a statement.

Birrindudu Station manager Mark Clifford said the man was very weak when found.

"Driving along then a bloke comes stumbling out of his hide or his shelter, it would
be pretty frightening I would imagine," Mr Clifford told News Limited newspapers.

"He was skeletal, he was really emaciated and when the boys found him he could only
walk and fall and stumble."

Mr Clifford said the man told workers he had experienced car problems and became lost,
but no car has been found.

AAP km/jlw/mon/nf

KEYWORD: DESERT

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