Three stranded teenagers have been rescued from a remote outback area in Western Australia after pilots saw their desperate “HELP” message written in the sand.
WA Police returned the three teens to safety on Saturday after their Holden Colorado became stuck at Hutt Lagoon near the Pink Lake in Gregory, south of Kalbarri.
The trio had been stranded for about six hours when they wrote “HELP” in the sand as they did not have any 4WD recovery equipment or an emergency beacon.
Air Traffic Control alerted WA Police to the distress signal after a pilot flew over the site at about 3pm on Saturday.
Shortly after, a passenger on a second plane identified the same SOS message and reported the sighting to authorities.
Australian Maritime Safety Authority then flew a Challenger jet over the site and identified the vehicle was “bogged” but undamaged.
Kalbarri Police and Mid West – Gascoyne Traffic officers were deployed to the area and followed GPS coordinates provided by the jet plane.
Due to incoming tide and challenging terrain, the officers were forced to leave their vehicle and continue on foot to attend to the stranded teenagers.
The trio were then escorted to safety and taken to Lucky Bay where they were reunited with family and friends.
The vehicle was unable to be recovered and has been left at the site for recovery at a later date.