The hunt for a missing English tourist feared dead after he and his girlfriend were ambushed by a gunman on an Australian desert road continued tonight.
The couple, who have not been named, were flagged down last night near the tiny outpost of Barrow Creek, 175 miles north of Alice Springs, by a man claiming he had engine trouble.
When the 28-year-old Briton went to help, his girlfriend heard what she thought was a gun shot, Australian police said.
The gunman then returned to the couple's Kombi van and punched the terrified 27-year-old woman, who is also English, before tying her wrists and ankles with tape and forcing her into the back of his van.
The woman managed to escape when her captor was distracted and spent more than four hours hiding in scrub as he searched for her with a torch and dog.
She eventually managed to stop a passing motorist in the early hours of today and raise the alarm.
Bob Fields, southern region commander of the Northern Territory Police, said the woman's escape was miraculous.
"I can only praise her for what she did - how she got away in the situation is totally beyond me.
"Just how he never found her I don't really know and I suspect she probably doesn't know either."
Police said she was "clearly distressed" by the ordeal but escaped major injury.
But Cmdr Fields said he held out little hope for the missing tourist.
"Clearly, my view is that some terrible fate has befallen the boyfriend."
The couple's orange van was later found in bushland away from the Stuart Highway where the gunman had apparently driven it off the road, police said.
A spokeswoman said they had received several alleged sightings of the offender from across the territory which were being followed up.
There was no clear motive for the attack, she added.
A plane has joined the search as police scour the thinly wooded land for the gunman and for any sign of the missing tourist.
PA