A married couple who died in the Central Australian outback used the last of their water on a leaking car radiator, the sole survivor of the tragedy has told police.
The elderly man was found on Sunday night wandering alongside a remote road about 100km from Nyrippi, west
of Alice Springs.
A ground search had been mounted to find the man and his two companions after a report was made to police about 9pm local time on Sunday that a group was missing after setting off from the Aboriginal community of Kintore.
The man, believed to be aged between 60 and 70, told police that the Pajero station wagon they had been travelling in broke down 116km from Nyirripi two days earlier.
The group then ran out of water after using it to fill up a leaking radiator, he said.
Police found the car a few kilometres further along the road but there was no sign of the couple.
Lights and sirens were used to try to attract the missing pair as the search team slowly travelled back to the community, leaving water bottles along the way.
Police resumed their search at first light yesterday and eventually found the 31-year-old woman, barely alive, by the side of the road.
Her tracks led to the body of her 34-year-old husband who had died about 90m from a dry waterhole.
The woman was taken to the Nyrippi Health Clinic where she was pronounced dead at 11.30am local time yesterday.
Detectives were preparing a report for the coroner and a post mortem examination on the couple will be conducted in Alice Springs today.
- AAP
