Acting Riverina Police District Superintendent Jillian Gibson provides an update as the search for missing Melbourne man Hadi Nazari, 23, enters its fifth day. Hadi went missing on Boxing Day, 2024, about three kilometres from the Geehi Campsite in the Kosciuszko National Park.
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00:00All right, so a multi-agency search has resumed today for a bush wolf missing in the Kosciuszko National Park.
00:05Huddy Nazirik, Police Slack 23, was last seen about 2.30am on Thursday,
00:11descending the Hannover Spurs Trail and G5 between Cairngover and Thredbo.
00:15So officers attached to the river in a police district were notified about 8.45pm at night
00:19and commenced patrols in a vehicle and on foot, assisted by SES, but without success.
00:24The following day we established a command post and a multi-agency response has commenced
00:29involving Goulburn Police, NSW Police Rescue, VRA, SES,
00:35Rural Fire Service, National Parks and Wildlife Service and specialist resources
00:40including POLAIR from across NSW.
00:42We're currently still searching the areas, utilising specialist resources
00:47including specially trained bushwalkers, volunteers from VRA and SES
00:53who we've airlifted into rugged and remote areas to try and increase our capability to search those areas.
01:00What's one of the biggest challenges about searching this area?
01:03So it's part of the most rugged terrain in NSW.
01:07It's very steep, it's very vegetated and it's quite remote.
01:11So we've set up increased communications to increase our capability there.
01:16The heat is also an issue, but can I just say that the volunteers
01:21and the staff which have attended have been amazing
01:25and the way in which they just put themselves out there every day
01:29trying to find hardy is so amazing.
01:33How many volunteers are there?
01:35There's at least 38 people on patrol in the region at the moment.
01:42So it's not handling search areas at this moment, it's not near the search areas
01:46but we're monitoring that and working with RFS, we're putting a lot of resources into that fire.
01:51How many volunteers are assisting?
01:53So depending on the day.
01:55So yesterday we airlifted 28 volunteers into a higher capacity area
02:01so taking them 1600 metres above where the current command post is
02:05and then they've worked their way down in a grid pattern
02:09so searching those areas that we think that hardy might be.
02:12Is there a particular mountain that identified as where he's likely to be?
02:17A mountain?
02:18Like in the region?
02:20So we start at the area where he was last seen
02:25and then work with rescue coordinators who are trained in looking at
02:29where the probability of his path of travel being.
02:32So we're extending those searches today.
02:35We have officers from the Royal Crime Investigators Unit
02:39who are assisting on horseback along with volunteers from the local area.
02:43So they're doing some lower country areas
02:46and then we have specialist resources from VRA, SES and AFP
02:51as well as search and rescue operators attached to the New South Wales Resource.
02:55Is there any idea of how long the group got separated?
02:58Was there a set up to put them together?
03:01Yeah, I think Hardy was enjoying nature which is terrific.
03:07There's some terrific footage of him up there.
03:10He's obviously well resourced which gives us a really good hope
03:15and I think they just got separated.
03:18Do you know what he had with him at the time then?
03:22Did he have a beacon?
03:23No, he did not have a beacon with him at the time that we're aware of
03:26and none has been activated in the area.
03:29The camping gear which he had shows that he had a reasonable amount of water.
03:34We have camping tents, poles and adequate clothing that increases our hopes.
03:42Police say that Mr Nazari is an experienced hiker.
03:46What do the police say to this?
03:48So speaking with the family, his friends and previous hikes that he's done in the area
03:53and before he immigrated to Australia he's conducted hikes like this previously.
03:58So has he done these hikes before?
04:00I'm not sure.
04:02How are his family and friends coping?
04:04We have actually a lot of friends who have attended the campsite, our command post,
04:09and they're assisting in some lower ground area searches
04:13and we're in constant contact with his family back in Melbourne.
04:17How close was the fire to the track or to the walk that they were doing?
04:22Exactly close enough.
04:24What are the plans for the search as the week goes on?
04:27Will the search continue?
04:30Is there any chance of scaling it back?
04:32The search is definitely continuing.
04:35We're dedicating resources to this, working with our volunteer agencies and specialist resources
04:40and we're projecting it into next week and dedicating those resources to that.
04:48And what about dedicating more resources?
04:52There is an opportunity to ramp up its availability of staff
04:56and because a lot of these organisations that have the specialist capabilities are volunteers,
05:02we're very grateful that we have more volunteers available.
05:06But the volunteers we do have are amazing.
05:11They are specially trained for this type of terrain.
05:14It's not just like going for a walk up a hill.
05:17It's dense bushland with high altitude and scaling it is very difficult.
05:25So placing anybody into that area can also hamper the search efforts.
05:29So making sure that the resources that we are using are specially qualified
05:33and are managed through the command post is something that we definitely say.
05:39So if people want to turn up to the area, report to the command post,
05:43don't do anything off your own back.
05:46The area is rugged and easy to go up there without no climbing.
05:53Are there any concerns about the weather conditions over the next week or so as the search is continuing?
05:59Very definitely.
06:01Obviously we've got concerns for a hardy, but we also have concerns about our staff.
06:05So that's why we're applying.
06:07We have medical teams on standby at the command post.
06:10We have specialist water resources including Hydrolite
06:16making sure that there's adequate food and water for all our search teams up there as well.
06:22Have you found any signs of him at this point?
06:25At this point we've had no indications of where he is apart from the last load sighting.
06:32And how far was that sighting from where the...
06:35I believe it was 3.5km from the G5 campgrounds.
06:38Okay.
06:39Are police still not ruling out anything including foul play?
06:43At this stage there's no indications of foul play.
06:45We're not treating it as suspicious.
06:47We're treating this as a missing person.
06:49How long was the hike that they were on?
06:51Was it a day's long?
06:52No, definitely.
06:53I don't know any such details.
06:57Have there been any fires during the search effort so far that are hindering efforts?
07:03No.
07:04Or has it been fairly good weather?
07:06No.
07:10Is there any concern about more fires sparking if this does go on another few days
07:17with the weather heating up more?
07:20With the weather heating up obviously there are concerns for the fires.
07:23But we have specialist resources in the area which we're using FLIR technology
07:28which utilises heat signatures.
07:31So RFS and National Parks are doing an amazing job with their resources there.
07:35We are capably qualified and we're looking at all avenues.