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Care package dropped to Perth family stranded in Simpson Desert
A stranded family-of-four have received a care package, including a satellite phone to call home, while trapped in the Simpson Desert.
It could take two weeks for Ori Zavros, wife Lindsey and children Zane and Zoe to be rescued from the barren backroads after their homemade truck became bogged along Purni Bore Track
in Witjira National Park, South Australia.
Ori’s parents in Kallaroo, Theo and Lagis Zavros, feared the worst.
“It was awful Josh, absolutely awful,” Theo told 9News. “My mind was going through illness, accident.”
“It was just the unknown – we didn’t know what state they were going to find things in,” Lagis added.
After activating an emergency beacon, it took four hours for a maritime safety plane sent from Melbourne, to find the family and relay home the good news – all four were safe and healthy.
A satellite phone was dropped from the skies, so Theo and Lagis could hear their son’s voice.
Footage captured from the plane showed a Ori in the form of a single speck in the desolate outback, shuffling towards the care package.
“You could really hear the anxiety in their voices – we were really going through it ourselves,” Theo said.
“He said please don’t worry we’re all okay and we had every confidence he was very well equipped.”
The family has been travelling around Australia since last year, setting off from Birdsville on Monday and making their way through a remote National Park, near the Northern Territory border.
But then the entire region was ravaged by unprecedented storms.
Flash flooding leaving towns isolated and heavy rain soaking everything from the border right down to Coober Pedy.
The wild storms have now passed but the wait for the Zavros family isn’t over.
It’s expected it could take as long as two weeks to rescue the Perth couple and their kids as SA Police wait for flooded roads to clear.
In the meantime, another air-drop is scheduled for Sunday with more supplies for the children and even some chocolate, along with messages from family.
