---
title: "AI drone helps find two lost hikers in Australia's Snowy Mountains"
description: "Two hikers who failed to return from a walk in Kosciuszko National Park were located in the dark with the help of a drone that used artificial intelligence and thermal imaging to pick them out of the bush — a sign of how machine vision is changing wilderness search and rescue."
category: "Technology"
category_url: https://newsparlor.com/category/technology
author: "Liam Fitzgerald"
published: 2026-06-27T04:08:00.000Z
updated: 2026-06-27T04:08:00.000Z
canonical: https://newsparlor.com/article/ai-drone-rescue-kosciuszko-hikers
tags: ["search-and-rescue", "drones", "artificial-intelligence", "kosciuszko", "australia", "thermal-imaging"]
---
# AI drone helps find two lost hikers in Australia's Snowy Mountains

Two hikers who failed to return from a walk in Kosciuszko National Park were located in the dark with the help of a drone that used artificial intelligence and thermal imaging to pick them out of the bush — a sign of how machine vision is changing wilderness search and rescue.

A couple who went missing while hiking in Kosciuszko National Park, in the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales, were found and brought to safety after a drone equipped with artificial intelligence and a thermal camera located them in darkness, [the Guardian reported](https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/jun/27/ai-drone-rescue-kosciuszko-national-park-hikers-fire-rescue-nsw).

## A night search in the cold

The pair had set out near Dead Horse Gap, south-west of Jindabyne, and did not arrive at their planned meeting point on a cold evening in late June. As night fell over the alpine terrain, NSW Police called in an Alpine Search and Rescue team, the State Emergency Service, and a drone crew from Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW), [the agency said](https://www.fire.nsw.gov.au/media/news/2026/20260625-fire-and-rescue-nsw-drone-team-locates-missing-hikers-using-ai-technology). Reporting indicates the hikers were located within roughly five hours of the alarm being raised, though FRNSW did not specify the elapsed time.

## How the drone found them

The FRNSW drone carried two complementary tools: software that uses artificial intelligence to scan the video feed for human shapes among the vegetation, and a thermal camera that detects body heat against the cold ground. When the AI flagged a possible match, the thermal camera was used to confirm it — a two-step check that helps rule out false alarms such as animals or warm rocks.

The hikers helped their own cause. Realizing a drone was overhead, they switched on a red light from a mobile phone to mark their position. Once the operator confirmed the sighting, the drone's spotlight was switched on to guide the ground team straight to them, and the couple were walked out of the park safely.

"The training and support provided by FRNSW's Aviation Unit ensured local firefighters had the skills and equipment to support Police and the SES to effect a successful operation," FRNSW Commander John Marzol said in the agency's statement.

## A growing tool in the field

The rescue is part of a broader shift toward AI-assisted drones in emergency response. Thermal-equipped drones can cover difficult ground far faster than searchers on foot, and the critical window for finding a missing person in cold conditions is often short. By combining automated detection with a human operator who confirms each sighting, services aim to speed up searches while limiting false leads.

The agency did not disclose the specific drone model used. For walkers heading into remote alpine country, though, the episode carried a simple, practical lesson: a charged phone and a way to signal overhead can make a real difference to the technology now searching for them.