Gus Lamont: Search parties covering ‘20-25km’ in blistering heat as new search for 4yo Yunta boy continues

Over 100 highly qualified rescue personnel have spent another frustrating day in some of the harshest possible conditions, holding onto hope of locating little Gus Lamont.

The new search for the four-year-old who went missing on September 27 from his grandparents’ property near Yunta in South Australia has entered a concerning phase as temperatures rise to dangerous levels.

Hordes of police, ADF personnel and SES workers have been unable to find any sign of the child or any evidence to spark hope of a recovery.

The search parties have been walking “20-25km a day in hot, harsh conditions” this week according to the latest police update released on Wednesday evening.

“With temperatures of 36C and strong northerly winds expected in the expanded area on Thursday, searching is expected to start at sunrise and end at midday,” the statement added.

Police announced on Monday they had set up the new task force to investigate the disappearance of Gus, who went missing at the Oak Park Station homestead about 40km south of Yunta, in SA’s Mid North region, on September 27.

The initial search, which covered about 470 sq km, ended about a week after the boy went missing.

SA Police Commissioner Grant Stevens has said there was no evidence Gus was a victim of foul play and the task force was aimed at expanding the search area around the property.

Taskforce Horizon is made up of 12 specialists, who will analyse information from the search and continue to provide advice.

“Search co-ordinator specialists, medical specialists and survivability specialists, looking at every possibility, and this is us exhausting those possibilities,” Mr Stevens said.

Described as shy and adventurous, Gus was last seen by his grandmother, playing on a mound of dirt at 5pm on the day he disappeared.

with AAP.