Gus search moves to recovery in South Australia after footprint found

A major search for a four‑year‑old boy who vanished from his family homestead in South Australia has entered a recovery phase after rescuers found a single footprint and were unable to locate the child after several days of searching. August, known as Gus, was last seen about 5pm on Saturday, September 27 on a remote sheep property roughly 40 kilometres south of Yunta, in the state mid‑north about 300 kilometres north of Adelaide.

Police and volunteer crews began searching the area the night he disappeared using a police helicopter equipped with an infrared camera but found no sign of the boy. Over subsequent days more than 100 personnel joined the effort, including State Emergency Service volunteers on trail bikes and all‑terrain vehicles, mounted police, specialist water operations officers and divers, search dogs, drones and aerial patrols. Search teams have repeatedly combed a roughly 2.5 to 3 kilometre radius from where Gus was last seen.

On Tuesday a footprint believed to belong to a child was located about 500 metres from the homestead. Superintendent Mark Syrus said the print showed a boot pattern a strong match for the footwear Gus was wearing when he disappeared. "It...