A British teenager who survived 12 nights in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney yesterday denied staging an elaborate hoax, saying he feared dying in the rugged wilderness.
Jamie Neale returned to the walking track where he became lost to recount his ordeal for a Channel Nine TV current affairs show which paid him a reported A$200,000 (US$160,000).
The 19-year-old told how he prepared for death by writing letters to his family.
“I was thinking I might die on that mountain,” he said.
“I had actually written some goodbye notes and things to my family saying my last walk, saying sorry, explaining how I’d got lost and different things like that,” he said.
Neale’s story has made headlines around the world and a publicity agent whisked the north London teen away from waiting media in a black Range Rover when he was released from hospital on Friday.
Some Australian news Web sites have carried comments accusing Neale of staging his survival feat to secure a lucrative media deal but the teenager said his extraordinary story was not a hoax.
“I know what happened,” he said.
“I know the people who were out searching for me, they know that it happened and that’s good enough for me,” he said.
“People can say what they want because I’m not lying. It’s the truth,” Neal said.
Neale’s father, Richard Cass, and his agent, Sean Anderson of celebrity management firm 22 Management, have both said profits would be donated to the youth’s rescuers.
The teen set off for a solo hike on July 3 but got hopelessly lost, eating only seeds and weeds with just a lightweight jacket for warmth in freezing overnight conditions.
He told police he had torn strips of bark from native paperbark trees to wrap himself in at night, and went into “survival mode” once he stopped hearing search helicopters fly by.
Police have backed Neale’s story, interviewing him at length after his rescue and saying his descriptions of areas he had walked through and slept in checked out.
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
NO EXCUSES: Marcos said his administration was acting on voters’ demands, but an academic said the move was emotionally motivated after a poor midterm showing Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday sought the resignation of all his Cabinet secretaries, in a move seen as an attempt to reset the political agenda and assert his authority over the second half of his single six-year term. The order came after the president’s allies failed to win a majority of Senate seats contested in the 12 polls on Monday last week, leaving Marcos facing a divided political and legislative landscape that could thwart his attempts to have an ally succeed him in 2028. “He’s talking to the people, trying to salvage whatever political capital he has left. I think it’s
A documentary whose main subject, 25-year-old photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza weeks before it premiered at Cannes stunned viewers into silence at the festival on Thursday. As the cinema lights came back on, filmmaker Sepideh Farsi held up an image of the young Palestinian woman killed with younger siblings on April 16, and encouraged the audience to stand up and clap to pay tribute. “To kill a child, to kill a photographer is unacceptable,” Farsi said. “There are still children to save. It must be done fast,” the exiled Iranian filmmaker added. With Israel
RSS