Toddler, Clad Only in a Diaper, Survives 5 Days Lost in Outback

Two-year-old Eric Taylor apparently ate insects and sucked wet foliage to survive while he was lost for five days in the Australian outback, rescue workers said Monday.

The toddler, wearing only a disposable diaper, wandered into the bush near his home in the remote north Queensland town of Cooktown on Wednesday.

When a rescue party found him Sunday, sitting naked in a scrub patch, the toddler grinned and stretched out his arms.

“As soon as he saw me, he grabbed me around the throat and choked me,” said his father, Paul Taylor. “Oh, it was good, it was very good. You’ve got to breed them tough up here. It’s tough country.”

A doctor said that except for minor cuts, bruises and dehydration, the boy was in good health.

Police, state emergency services, Aboriginal trackers, helicopters and army units had conducted one of Queenland’s biggest searches. Rescue workers believed the little boy walked and crawled at least 12 miles.

Hotels around Cooktown reported that they were quickly running out of beer as people celebrated the boy’s rescue.

“It’s like New Year’s Eve here, but better,” one hotel owner said.