Autistic teen missing in Australian bushland for 6 days rescued alive

A 17-year-old boy with autism was found alive on Thursday after six days lost in eastern Australian woodlands.

The boy, whom police identified only as William, had begun camping with a teenage friend when he disappeared last Friday near Walhalla, a former gold-mining town 185km east of Melbourne, police said.

A police helicopter crew found him surrounded by wilderness lying in a dry creek bed, and he was later reunited with his mother. William was in good spirits and mostly in good health, the police statement said.