Woman Missing for Nearly a Week Found Alive in Remote Australian Bushland Surviving on Creek Water

A woman missing for six days in Australia's bushland in the remote outskirts of the Gold Coast has been found alive, surviving on fresh water at nearby creeks and sleeping in caves, local police confirmed on Monday.

Yang Chen, a 26-year-old student from Queensland's Bond University, was last seen Wednesday morning on a walk near Gorge Falls in Tallebudgera Valley with her male companion who lost sight of her after climbing some boulders ahead of her.

Chen was found around 11 a.m. (local time) on Monday around 300 meters from where she was last spotted and had climbed about 30 meters above a waterfall. Police search efforts had been hampered by the heavy rainfall and flash flooding in the area last week, which saw it receive more than five inches of rain in 24 hours, Australia's ABC News reports.

The student was found in "surprisingly good spirits," noted paramedic Gary Berkowitz from the Queensland Ambulance Service, who helped her at the scene, though she was suffering from exposure to the harsh weather and was been taken to Robina Hospital.

"She appeared quite well, she walked to the ambulance, and a kindly gentleman who lived next to the national park made a sandwich for her, which she no doubt enjoyed," he said.

Chen was very fortunate to have had "ample access to water," he added.

"Look she's very very lucky that we found her alive, while there was a good supply of water, it doesn't appear at this stage like she's gone and drank a lot of water," said Sergeant Mitch Gray from Gold Coast Water Police, MyGC.com.au

"She's very dehydrated, very unwell, but she should be fine once the hospital treats her and she goes home to her family," he added.

Gray noted the police were close to calling the search off. "Today and tomorrow were looking towards the end of the search time," Gray said, The Guardian reports.

"I had that unfortunate feeling in my stomach, I suppose, that we weren't going to find her alive," he added.

The exhaustive search for Chen included drones, helicopters, a dog squad, a trail bike squad and a police dive squad, who Gray said "definitely risked their lives" scaling cliffs in search of her.

"There was no trail there, what they did to get her out of there was nothing short of amazing.

"We used local experts who lived there their whole lives, they [were] invaluable," he said.

Chen is the latest among several people who had gone missing but were miraculously found alive in recent months.

Back in January, a woman who went missing for nearly a week in California was found alive in her car buried in the snow.

Earlier this month, four children, including a 2-year-old boy, who had gone missing during a heavy blizzard in Alaska, were found alive but had to be treated for severe hypothermia.

Back in October, a man in Missouri, who went missing for a week, was found alive inside a car at the bottom of a ravine.