Video: Missing British backpacker reunited with mother after rescue The gap year student got lost in scrubland after going out jogging in tropical summer heat in rural Queensland on Tuesday. A major search operation was launched, and when he was eventually found by a helicopter crew three days later, he was severely dehydrated, having been forced to survive on contact lens solution. His mother Claire was on a flight from Britain to Australia when she heard the news that her son had been found. "His birth was one of the best moments of my life and this is pretty close to it getting him back again because I was pretty convinced that it was touch and go certainly," she said. Her son thanked his rescuers and everyone in the local community for their assistance: "I'm just really grateful for all the guys that helped out and all the team and I know that so many people helped out and that so many people were getting involved in the stuff and I genuinely believed that if it wasn't for them I wouldn't be here today."