Thaindian News

Melbourne, July 19 (ANI): Miracle bushwalk survivor Jamie Neale, 19, has revealed that while he was stranded in the bush, he had written a goodbye letter to his family.

The Brit said that he was praying to God that the rescue team hovering in helicopters overhead should be able to locate him.

“I was thinking I might die on that mountain,” News.com.au quoted him as saying during an an exclusive interview with 60 Minutes.

“I had actually written some goodbye notes and things to family saying, my last walk, saying sorry, explaining how I’d got lost and different things like that.

“I’m not a particularly religious person but I started thinking about God and I was praying and saying, ‘Surely you can move a helicopter an inch and find me’ and ‘Why won’t you just help me?”‘ he added.

Retracing his steps along a rugged Blue Mountains trail, Neale even marked the point where he took a wrong turn down a narrow pathway.

He had to spend 12 days lost in dense bush, where temperatures dropped to zero at night.

Asked whether his ordeal was a hoax, Neale said that he genuinely got lost.

He even insisted that he had not been able to sleep at night since his rescue.

“The people in hospital and different people I’ve spoken to, have said I’m going to get a lot of this criticism and people saying it was a hoax,” he said.

“But I’ve been in the situation, I know what it’s like. Last night I barely slept because I couldn’t think certain things.

“I just couldn’t shut off my brain. I kept thinking about all the different things that had happened.

“I know what’s happened, and I know the people who were out searching for me. They know that it happened and that’s good enough for me. People can say what they want because I’m not lying. It’s the truth,” he added.

Neale was questioned by cops on Thursday about his whereabouts during the 12 days, so as to verify his version of events.

He gave a detailed account to the police, and was asked to mark on a map the precise point he veered from the trail.

According to reports, he told them that he had stayed near a waterfall while in the bush.

Neale, along with his father Richard Cass, organised a party at Katoomba’s Hotel Gearin on Friday, to thank the rescue workers who had searched tirelessly for him.

He told them that he had become disoriented because the sun was in a different position than in the northern hemisphere.

Attendees told The Sunday Telegraph that Neale did not drink any alcohol, but his father had a few beers.

“They were just walking around saying ‘thank you’ to people. Jamie was really amazed at how many people came looking for him,” a member of the Volunteer Rescue Association said.

Neale’s father is even said to have written a heartfelt letter to the couple who found his son. (ANI)