If you get lost in rugged bush, these are the SES searchers who’ll be sent to track you. Just don’t call them elite

Zan Fairweather, Maddie Garnache, Chantal Bronkhorst, Mitchell Isaacs and Sam Hassan at SES bush search and rescue training near Glenbrook in the Blue Mountains. Photograph: Rémi Chauvin/The Guardian

A few months ago a man was liloing down the Wollangambe River, a few hours north-west of Sydney, when he slipped and broke his leg.

Clinging to a riverbank and unable to climb to safety, the man happened upon some incredibly good luck. Or rather, the luck chanced upon him.