Search for Gus expected to continue in soaring South Australia heat

• SA Police launched a renewed and expanded search for missing four-year-old boy Gus this week.
• Gus disappeared on the evening of Saturday, September 27, and was last seen on his family's isolated sheep station.
• The renewed search effort is expected to continue today, as temperatures in the area are predicted to reach 36 degrees.

The search for four-year-old Gus is expected to begin early this morning in South Australia's Mid North amid forecast hot and windy conditions.

Gus disappeared on the evening of Saturday, September 27, after police said he was last seen playing in sand outside a homestead on his family's isolated sheep station, about 40 kilometres south of Yunta.

Police said the [https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/575904/taskforce-launched-as-search-for-gus-expands-in-sa-s-mid-north renewed search, which began on Tuesday, has so far yielded "no new evidence", but was expected to continue from sunrise until noon today, as temperatures in the area were tipped to soar to 36 degrees.

"More than 100 search team members, including SA Police, ADF members and SES volunteers, have each been walking between 20 and 25 kilometres each day in hot, harsh conditions," a statement on Wednesday afternoon said.

Former Victoria Police detective Narelle Fraser - who is not involved in the case - said it was not unusual to return to a search, and said the latest effort could yield something that had been missed during the initial wide-scale effort.

"I think what they would also be doing is getting fresh eyes to look at the information that's come in," she said.

"That happens quite a lot in investigations because the amount of information, initially it is just all-consuming."

She said the remote location of the search for Gus would require resources not needed in more urban areas.

"I would think that they've realised they need some more experts," she said.

"Remote areas are very challenging."

She also said it would be a "very difficult time for the searchers and the investigators".

"These sort of searches, you don't want to go home, you don't want sleep. You want to stay there. You want to search and you want to find little Gus."

The search for Gus was scaled back on the Friday following his disappearance, but police said "significant" searches had continued.

When the renewed search effort was announced this week, SA Police Commissioner Grant Stevens said a desire to leave "no stone unturned" was central to the expanded effort.

He said there had been "no additional information" but it was hoped Gus could be returned to his family.

'No common rule book'

Missing persons expert Sarah Wayland, who has worked with hundreds of families, said all missing persons investigations were varied, and often complex.

"There is no common rule book in terms of a police investigation," she said.

"It's going to be based on the information at hand, the ways in which the investigation is panning out, the ways in which community information shapes the direction from the police, as well as taking account of those geographic vulnerabilities when someone is missing outside of a city area.

"This isn't uncommon, for missing persons cases to look like there are ebbs and flows.

"It's interesting to see that the police are back out searching and it's just a matter of saying that the community needs to wait and see."

Locals shocked, but hopeful

Residents of Peterborough, about an hour south-west of Yunta, said Gus's disappearance had caused distress in the small community.

Mary Harrison said Gus's disappearance was "very sad".

"I hope they find him, I really do," she said.

David Randall said many members of the community "felt shocked" because "no-one can find him".

"I think that's how everyone feels … where is he?" he said.

"It's sad."

Harry Robertson said he had been following the story in the media.

"It's pretty shocking ... I hope you find him, or he turns up somewhere," he said.

- ABC