A 73-year-old kayaker has been found alive after spending the night missing off the South Australian coast, bringing a swift end to an overnight search and rescue operation that could have ended far differently.
Goran Radic failed to return from a crabfishing trip off Middle Beach, north of Adelaide, yesterday evening. According to 9News, his family raised the alarm just before 11pm when he did not arrive home at the expected time. Emergency services responded immediately and began searching into the night, eventually locating him in mangroves the following morning, as reported by the Sydney Morning Herald.
Radic was winched to safety by rescue personnel and examined by paramedics on arrival. He sustained no injuries during the ordeal. In remarks to 9News, he described his night in the mangroves with striking composure. "I didn't panic, I was alright," he said. "I've seen rescue helicopters sometime in the night and they missed me, so I decided to go to St Kilda to try there, I saw light there. But didn't find it, so I kayaked back and they found me this morning."
The fact that Radic survived unharmed owed partly to his preparation. He had packed supplies before departing for what should have been a routine crabfishing outing, and these provisions sustained him through the night. His decision to remain calm and ration his supplies rather than exhaust himself in panic likely made the difference between a successful rescue and a tragedy.
Despite his overnight ordeal in the mangroves and the anxiety it caused his family and the emergency responders who found him, Radic told 9News that his experience has not dissuaded him from kayaking in the future. His resilience and practical mindset throughout the situation appear to have left his confidence in the activity intact, a reflection perhaps of both his experience on the water and his temperament in crisis.