Tourist in second Outback rescue

Martin Lake, 50, sparked a major land and air search after spending a further four nights in the same area of the Australian wilderness a week later.

Mr Lake was just north of Alice Springs when he phoned for help on his mobile.

A police spokesman said it was believed he had lost something during his first trip and had returned to look for it.

Supt Richard Bryson, of the Northern Territory Police told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that officers had been unable to get down to the "nitty gritty" of the circumstances surrounding Mr Lake's latest trip because of the state of his health when he was found.

"In a general sense it's been proposed that he'd lost something on the first occasion and he'd taken it upon himself to go back to the area in an effort to locate it," he said.

When Mr Lake, of Bedworth, was found the first time he had spent three days dressed in a black T-shirt, shorts and flimsy footwear, with neither a hat nor sun cream and with just a small amount of water to drink.

He was dehydrated and sunburnt and had told Australian reporters that he "felt a bit daft".

Mr Lake, who was rescued on Wednesday morning, is being treated at Alice Springs Hospital suffering from dehydration and is in a stable condition.

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