South Australian police have announced a major development in the effort to locate missing four-year-old Gus Lamont.
The nation has been gripped by the case of the little blonde-haired boy who went missing from his grandparents’ sheep station, sparking one of the largest ongoing missing persons searches in Australia’s history.
Emergency services teams will return to Oak Park Station on Tuesday, as part of Taskforce Horizon, to continue the search for Gus who was last seen on September 27, playing on a sand hill outside the homestead.
“The search is expected to last up to three days and will involve STAR Group officers and Task Force Horizon officers using specialised equipment to search six mine shafts in the area,” a SA Police statement said.
Uncovered and unfenced shafts in an area located between 5.5km and 12km from the Oak Park homestead that police were not previously aware of will be the focus of the new search, the statement said.
“We are determined to explore every avenue in an effort to locate Gus Lamont and provide some closure for his family,’’ Deputy Commissioner of Police Linda Williams said.
“These searches will either locate evidence or eliminate these locations from further investigation by the Task Force.’’
Police drained a large dam on the property on October 31, and were able to eliminate the possibility that Gus may have drowned in that body of water.
This followed extensive ground and air searches of the area surrounding the Oak Park Station and a four-day ground search, which concluded on October 17.
An initial 10-day search involved SA Police, ADF members, SES volunteers, trackers and local property owners.
The new search equates to a 95 sqkm search area with the initial search area estimated at 470 sqkm using Polair and drones.
“Task Force Horizon is conducting multiple lines of inquiry to locate Gus Lamont. These investigations have not uncovered any evidence of foul play,” the statement added.
“The family of Gus Lamont have continued to cooperate fully with police and are being supported by a victim contact officer.”
Hope for Gus Lamont: Bush survival expert Michael Atkinson offers a plan to help locate the 4-year-old boy after more than a month missing
The only clue uncovered so far is a single footprint found on September 30.
The disappearance of four-year-old August ‘Gus’ Lamont has devastated a remote South Australian community with six weeks of searching turning up no trace of the little boy.
Gus was last seen about 5pm on September 27, playing outside the Oak Park homestead while his grandmother cared for his younger brother inside. His mother and other grandparent were out tending sheep on the 6000-hectare property, 43km south of Yunta in the state’s Mid North.
The terrain is unforgiving — arid, rocky and vast. Search crews have battled scorching heat, rugged hills and sparse vegetation in their efforts to find him.
The only clue uncovered so far is a single footprint found on September 30, about 500m from where Gus was last seen.
Police have said there has been no evidence of foul play but have not ruled it out.
The South Australian police commissioner, Grant Stevens, said the landscape has made the search extremely difficult.
“There are lots of places a small child might find themselves which are hard to identify,” he said last month.
The case has since been handed to the Major Crime Investigation Branch, which is standard practice.
Outback survivalist Michael Atkinson, a former Australian Defence Force pilot and survival instructor, said the conditions Gus faced were harsh but not insurmountable.
“It’s arid,” he told 7NEWS.com.au. “Water’s not easy to come by, shade can be an issue, but the temperatures are pretty survivable at that time of year. It’s not too hot. It’s not too cold. So really it’s going to come down mostly to water in the immediate term.”
Atkinson said most people can survive about three days without water, though there are rare cases of people lasting longer including Robert Bogucki, an American who trekked into the desert for a spiritual journey and was missing 43 days, sparking one of the largest land searches in Australia’s history in 1999.
The search was called off after 28 days, with police presuming him dead in WA’s Great Sandy Desert. However, he was found alive two weeks later by a news helicopter.
“Without food, I think most people can probably go two months. As for a toddler, I’m not sure. I don’t have specific experience in that area, but humans are incredibly resilient,” Atkinson said.
Gus has been missing for 44 days.
Atkinson said it was unusual for a child so young to wander far from home.
“It’s surprising that a toddler would walk away because instinctively, as mammals, we get scared when we leave a familiar area and want to stay close. But unusual things happen,” he said.
“He grew up there, so he would have felt comfortable in those surroundings, but normally youngsters want to stay in proximity to their loved ones.”
Yunta, a town of fewer than 100 residents, has been shaken by Gus’s disappearance his family are devastated.
“This has come as a shock to our family and friends, and we are struggling to comprehend what has happened. We miss him more than words can express,” family friend Bill Harbison said.
While the operation has shifted toward recovery, authorities say they remain committed to finding Gus.
Gus is described as having long curly blond hair and was wearing a blue long-sleeved Minions T-shirt, a grey sun hat and boots when he went missing.
Anyone with information about his disappearance is urged to contact police.
