Kalgoorlie police say a major search for a missing German backpacker at the weekend was a massive drain on resources.
Officers say the man had been drinking when he decided to catch a taxi to the Coonana Aboriginal community, about 200 kilometres east of Kalgoorlie, on Sunday.
They say when the taxi driver refused to travel beyond the sealed road, about 40 kilometres out of Coonana, the man got out and wandered off.
He later called police from his mobile, sparking a land search, before making his way to a rail line where he was found by a worker.
Senior Sergeant Peter Foley says a lot of time and resources were spent on the search.
“We actually chartered a helicopter, we had about 12 SES [State Emergency Service] staff and about four vehicles of police searching for this male,” he said.
“So it’s a massive drain on police resources, not that we wouldn’t do it, but on this occasion it was probably a situation where we probably shouldn’t have done it in the first place.”
