"What A Relief": Australia's PM On 3-Year-Old Autistic Boy's Rescue After 3-Day Hunt

Rescue workers and police, including some on horseback, searched through the weekend before finally spotting the boy, AJ Elfalak.

An Australian mother said Tuesday she felt "blessed" after her three-year-old son with autism was found alive, scooping muddy water from a creek in dense outback terrain after a three-day hunt that gripped the country. Thank goodness. What a relief. I can't imagine how traumatic this experience has been for AJ and his parents. Glad to hear he's safe. Thanks to all at @nswpolice and our paramedics. https://t.co/pIL91J27Cc Police sent a helicopter with thermal imaging equipment but failed to spot the little boy in the hours after he was first reported missing on Friday morning at his family's remote property in the eastern state of New South Wales, 150 kilometres (90 miles) northwest of Sydney. Rescue workers and police, including some on horseback, searched through the weekend before finally spotting the boy, AJ Elfalak, during a helicopter sweep of the area on Monday. "He is with us. He is safe and well and healthy. That is all that matters," his mother Kelly Elfalak told television reporters Tuesday at the family home in the village of Putty.