A Queensland man's family has hired a helicopter to join local boats and emergency services searching for him after he was thrown off a tinnie into a swollen north Queensland creek.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Authorities still hold out hope 35-year-old Justin Scott will be found alive after the boat he was on with two other men crashed in the raging Groper Creek, south-east of Townsville, about 5.30pm on Friday.
Mr Scott's fellow boaties, believed to be local men in their 20s, managed to swim to safety but he has not been seen since.
The search entered its sixth day on Wednesday, after efforts to find Mr Scott started the night he fell into the creek.
Townsville police Senior Sergeant Janelle Poole said on Wednesday the search team involved locals on their boats, the family helicopter, emergency service vessels and a state government helicopter.
Senior Sergeant Poole said the focus remained on the stretch of creek from the jetty near Hinkson Esplanade in the town of Inkerman, about 120 kilometres south-east of Townsville, to the mouth.
"We are still holding out hope of locating the missing man," she said.
"The family is also actively involved in the search as well.
"This is a small community, so members of the community are also assisting."
Police have appealed for anyone with mobile phone footage or home security camera vision from 5-6pm on Friday to come forward.
Groper Creek resident Dan Garvey, who lives opposite the jetty, witnessed the crash and said he believed the boat hit a pylon in the water.
"It [the boat] nearly flipped completely with the impact," he said on Saturday.
"I thought two of them fell overboard and thought I saw one down the stream but I've been told one of them was thrown in the air and landed back in the boat.
"The one that fell back into the boat was taken to hospital because he was pretty banged up.
"The driver was hanging on to the motor so he was lucky."
Paramedics treated one of the surviving men on Friday for facial and suspected spinal injuries and he was taken to nearby Ayr Hospital in a stable condition.
Mr Garvey was among locals who took their own boats out to help search for Mr Scott.
"It was pretty scary," he said.
"They hit the pylon pretty hard with the rapids and the young fella thrown off never surfaced, he just didn't come up.
"It must be pretty devastating for the family and we just hope, by some miracle, the young fella is okay."
