Cousin putting together private search for Srawn

As Australian police scale back the official search for a former Hamilton man, his cousin is putting together a team to find the hiker.

Prabhdeep Srawn, 25, has been missing for more than two weeks in the Kosciuszko national park in New South Wales. Srawn was last seen May 13, when he drove to a village in the park where he intended to go for a hike. A search operation began on May 20 when it was discovered he was missing.

Family and friends have been pleading with Australian authorities to expand the search. However in a release today, New South Wales police said they made the “tough decision” to scale down the operation after consulting medical experts and examining the conditions and weather forecasts for the area.

Srawn’s cousin Tej Sahota is organizing the search party. “We’re in the process of hiring some private teams, my wife has been in contact with teams throughout Australia.”

“We’re looking to get a helicopter chartered as well to scope out the area. We are also offering a $15,000 reward for any private hikers that might be in the area that might want to assist and help.”

Those hikers must be experienced with the park’s trails, travel in pairs, have a GPS and must co-ordinate with police so they don’t interfere with their continued search.