Police say it is a race against time to locate William Callaghan who spent the night in life-threatening, freezing conditions in dense bushland north of Melbourne.
The boy's family have been joined by authorities, including the CFA and SES, as well as concerned members of the public keen to lend support.
Police and volunteers spent the freezing night trekking through the bush, with some on horseback and others on motorbikes, in an area where authorities have previously struggled to find missing people. They also scoured the thick vegetation from the sky."There's no sugar-coating it," Senior Sergeant Greg Paul said. "It was a very cold night last night, life-threateningly cold.
Will has the ability to wander long distances and is food- and drink-focussed. For this reason, police have asked local residents to check whether the boy snuck into their homes, or out outhouses, looking for food and shelter.Credit:The vegetation in the area is dense from bushfire regrowth, making it difficult to walk through and almost impossible to inspect from the air.
Sergeant Paul said Will may have tried to protect himself from the extreme cold by ensconcing himself in the undergrowth.The search for William Callaghan is in its second day."It's hard going. It's steep terrain," Sargeant Paul said, noting it had taken long periods of time to find other missing people in the area in the past.Will taps his chest and makes noises to communicate.
The boy was travelling in a southerly direction and had several kilometres to walk until he might have encountered farmland.
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