ENTREPRENEUR and adventurer Dick Smith has called on bosses to give workers time off so they can assist the search for a Sydney man missing for eight days in a national park near Oberon.
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Sevak Simonian, 21, has not been seen since he left his parents’ home in Belrose about 8pm on October 20.
His parents reported him missing to police, and his friends then came forward saying he was headed to the Kanangra-Boyd National Park near Oberon.
His car was found in the Kanangra Walls Road car park on October 24.
Police yesterday said they believed Mr Simonian entered the park on October 21, but only had a day pack with him when he disappeared.
Mr Smith said he was alarmed when he discovered that Mr Simonian had not been found, and spent two hours on Tuesday searching the national park in his helicopter.
He said that, from speaking to police, he understands 25 skilled bushwalkers were helping with the search effort, but he said there needed to be more.
“The best way to find someone who is lost in the bush is to have lots of people walking in the bush,” Mr Smith said.
“If you’re a bushwalker, a canyoner or a rock climber, get in touch with the police and offer the fact that you could go and also for bosses to give them the time off,” he said.
“Police are concerned about people going in there not skilled, but there are hundreds of very skilled bushwalkers in Sydney and they are not there because they don’t know anything about it.”
Mr Smith said that, while Mr Simonian had been missing for eight days, he believed that the bushwalker could be alive because there was plenty of water about.
Barry Washington, a friend and colleague of Mr Simonian at Bunnings in Narrabeen, said Mr Simonian loved the outdoors, and had been bushwalking on his own since he was 13.
“His passion is bushwalking, that’s what he does. He loves it out there, he’d live out there forever if he could. Sometimes he stays out at Barrington Tops [National Park in the Hunter Valley] for two weeks, he likes to live off the land,” said Mr Washington, who has been part of the team searching for Mr Simonian.
“He knows how to survive out there, to build shelters. He knows what he can and can’t eat and drink.”
Mr Simonian is described as being about 180 centimetres tall, with a thin build, olive skin, short black curly hair and brown eyes.
Mr Washington urged volunteers who want to help in the search to contact Oberon Police Station on 6336 1000.
