By MARA PATTISON-SOWDEN
A ST ALBANS couple had to be rescued by police after getting stuck in thick forest between East Warburton and Noojee last month.
Roco Ivanovic, 62, and his wife Slavica, 56, were headed to a camping ground at Mount Baw Baw on Thursday 26 April but missed the turn-off, bogging their car in mud.
“Some intersections didn’t have signs and some were blasted with shot guns, it was already dark and we kept going thinking we’d get to the camping ground,” Roco said.
“After 10 kilometres there was a dirt road and suddenly it went down and in a matter of seconds we were on a slope,” he said.
The couple told a Triple-zero operator they were stuck and had enough food, water and warm clothes to get them through the night.
But alarm bells rang for Warburton police officers when they discovered the van had begun sliding down the hill, the couple had medical conditions, no mobile signal and were not in the location they believed they were.
“We told the police we were not in immediate danger and had warm clothes and food to get us through the night, but we were pleasantly surprised when we heard a car coming and a knock on our van,” Roco said.
Senior Constable Rob Firns and Senior Constable Kevin Bishop were on duty when the call came through, and said previous experience led them to check out the situation.
“For the sake of thoroughness and experience, we know that sometimes where people think they are…they’re not,” Sen Const Firns said.
He said it took them almost two hours to winch the van to safety, which the police would never do under normal circumstances, and escort the couple to Noojee where they set up camp.
