The stunning moment hikers found Hadi on a hillside in Kosciuszko

“And before you know it, there’s about 10 of us there. All formed around him, hugging him, offering him water, offering him food.

“I called triple zero and talked to police and they brought a helicopter in … and in the meantime, he called his family on someone else’s phone, and … he was just in tears. He’s crying, talking to his family for the first time. [It] was hectic.”

Dart said Nazari – who survived his ordeal on foraged berries and two muesli bars – was in good spirits and made jokes, then shook everyone’s hand before he was winched out by helicopter.

Following a tearful reunion with friends and loved ones at the emergency command centre in Geehi, he was taken by ambulance to Cooma Hospital.

Friends told ABC News Nazari was in good health. “It’s just amazing, I don’t have any words to explain [it]. He looks pretty healthy you know, a miracle I would say,” said Falaksher Ali.

Another friend, Muhammad Iylas, said: “I’m kind of in shock and full of happiness, he’s a hero. Fourteen days without food, he’s doing, like, perfectly well.”

Outside the hospital in Cooma, one of Nazari’s cousins told Nine News: “For the last 14 days we’ve been hiking the mountain trying to find him. But today God helped us find him, it’s a great relief for us.”

Nazari went missing on December 26 after he was separated from two friends as they descended the Hannels Spur Trail in the NSW park, at the tail end of a multi-day trek near Australia’s highest mountain.

Speaking at Geehi on Wednesday, NSW Police Inspector Josh Broadfoot said the search – involving more than 300 people – was one of the longest successful land searches for a missing person he could remember.

Nazari reported seeing helicopters flying overhead as rescuers scoured the bushland, Broadfoot said, but they could not spot him in the dense terrain.

“It’s a massive effort for him to have gotten here to there,” he said. “We’ve had a chat to Hadi, and he said he’s pretty much just been up and just walking from morning to night.”

On January 5, searchers found Nazari’s camera, camera case and evidence of a campfire.

Paramedics at Geehi treated Nazari for dehydration before taking him to hospital, where he was happy and in “remarkable” condition for the length of time he was missing, NSW Ambulance’s Adam Mower said.

Hiking guide Keith Scott has traversed the Hannels Spur trail – where Nazari went missing – dozens of times, and said it’s always worth carrying emergency communication equipment.

“It’s incredibly steep, and the undergrowth is incredibly thick. So it just means that energy reserves [get] used up pretty quickly when you’re trying to push your way through,” said Scott.

“Particularly in country like that, you really do need to be carrying an emergency beacon, and preferably a GPS.”

The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up here.