Victorian medical student, 23, says bushfires came so close trees were falling around him, and that he thought authorities would give up the search

Hadi Nazari, who was lost in mountainous bushland in New South Wales for 13 days, believed he had been found by rescue helicopter teams only to realise they were fighting nearby bushfires, the hiker has told the ABC.

The 23-year-old Victorian medical student had set out from Kosciuszko national park’s Geehi camp on 23 December for a four-day hike with two friends, climbing Australia’s highest peak, Mount Kosciuszko, before returning via Hannels Spur on Boxing Day.

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