Covered in leeches, six stone lighter and suffering from gangrene... but boy, 18, is found alive after NINE WEEKS alone in the Australian bush

Matthew Allen walked out of home on 'survival mission' in November

18-year-old hid from passing hikers in effort not to be discovered

Found half-blind, covered in leeches and suffering from gangrene

MATTHEW

A teenager who had been given up for dead has been found after surviving for nearly nine weeks in the Australian bush.
Matthew Allen, 18, had lost half his body weight and was suffering from partial blindness brought on by his ordeal when he was found, lying exhausted, by two hikers.
His body was covered in leeches and insect bites, with gangrene eating into his feet and lower legs.
But the astonishing survival  of the accountancy student, who lived with his family less than  two miles from where he was found, has divided opinion in the local community.
Some have questioned his story, while others have simply marvelled at his endurance.
Police say Matthew suffers from an unspecified mental illness, but that there is no doubt from his shocking condition that he has been living rough since he left his home in Westleigh, on the northern edge of Sydney, last November.
Matthew is believed to have set out into the dense bush on a survival mission, where he struggled to exist on virtually no food and the little water he could gather from a virtually-dry creek bed.
To make matters worse there was a record-breaking heatwave.
Police chief Glyn Baker said: ‘He was not living under any shelter and was exposed to the full conditions since he was reported missing two months ago.
‘Anyone who is missing for that length of time in those kind of conditions… you wouldn’t expect to see them again.’
Matthew, who had lost six stone, was found by chance on Saturday as he lay near a track in the bush, too exhausted and sick to raise himself on to his infected feet. He  was badly dehydrated, his body was red with mosquito bites, leeches clung to his arms and legs and he was completely disorientated.

A helicopter was sent to winch him out of the bush and fly him to hospital in Hornsby, a suburb of Sydney.
Matthew’s family have gathered at his bedside in hospital, where he is being treated for his injuries.
Police have described them as ‘not life-threatening’, but added that if Matthew had not been found by chance he would not have survived for many more days.
His mother Deborah said that her family’s priority now ‘is getting  Matthew well’. She declined to comment further.
Police said the boy intended to go into the bush, and did not get lost there. When his family reported him missing a widespread search was  carried out but the teenager could not be found. He had left his mobile phone at home and had not taken any extra clothing with him.

Officers have yet to question Matthew about his ordeal but they believe he had deliberately stayed out of sight when hikers passed close by.
Inspector Baker said: ‘Hikers often walk along tracks in the area. He must have kept out of the way of people.
‘I also think he was in such a state that he couldn’t actually get up and move. He was not that far from home but there’s no indication that food was being pilfered from the house.’
Some local people have questioned why Matthew was not found earlier, when he was eventually discovered so close to home.
One writer on an internet forum that has been debating his survival wrote: ‘I find it all a bit odd. There’s more to this story.’
But Duncan Gibbs said the bush is ‘pretty rugged and you can be just around the corner from someone and never know that they’re there’.

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