Missing man’s survival ‘a miracle’
Published: May 19, 2005
A South American businessman lost for 10 days in rugged bushland on an island off Brisbane was less than 24 hours from death when he was found today, his rescuers believe.
Colombian-born Ricardo Sirutis, 47, was weak, dehydrated and suffering from exposure when a team of volunteers found him sitting against a tree in dense scrub on Moreton Island - only three kilometres from where he went missing.
State Emergency Service local controller John Butler said Mr Sirutis, an executive with drug company Pfizer, had endured cold nights, a lack of food and had told rescuers he had had no water for the past five days.
“It’s really a miracle he has survived because hypothermia can fairly rapidly set in because he was only wearing shorts and a T-shirt,” Mr Butler said today.
The lone bushwalker was in a previously unsearched area south of a sandy region known as the Desert and only 1.5 kms from the shoreline when he was found at 2.30pm (AEST).
Disoriented and unable to walk, Mr Sirutis thanked rescuers before being winched aboard an RACQ Careflight helicopter and airlifted to the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital (RBWH).
RACQ Careflight doctor Allan MacKillop said Mr Sirutis had been less than 24 hours from death when searchers found him, adding: “We were very surprised he was still conscious.
“In fact it was not likely he would survive for another 24 hours, given his body temperature. He was pretty well at the limit.”
But it was too early to tell what long-term effects the ordeal would have on Mr Sirutis’ health, he said.
More than 500 SES volunteers worked with police and nearly 80 army personnel in the search for the Brazilian-based Mr Sirutis.
Pfizer said today it was “delighted” the pharmaceutical executive had been found safe and well.
A keen bushwalker, he had travelled to Moreton Island last Sunday week for a day trip but was reported missing when he failed to turn up at a pharmaceutical conference on the Gold Coast on Monday.
His brother brother Stany, who arrived in Brisbane from Canada last Friday to join the search, said he had never given up hope his brother would be found alive.
“It is a miracle I think,” Stany Sirutis told reporters on Moreton Island today.
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