Natalie Tran, Australia's leading online comedienne, has been lost in the Australian outback for two months and has formally requested a rescue, the Daily Currant can reveal.
Australian authorities are desperatly trying to locate Tran, aged 25, who disappeared in early April just south of King's Canyon during an Alice Springs to Adelaide adventure tour.
Sources say she was separated from her tour group after following a "funny-looking" wallaby behind a bush.
Tran is best known for her youtube skien communitychannel, which has more than 430 million views and over 1 million subscribers.
She is one of the one the few successful female comedians in Australia, one of most visable members of Australia's Việt Kiều community, and generally considered to be one of the funniest people on the planet.
Officials say they feared Tran was lost forever, but yesterday she contacted local rescue teams through Twitter:
"@ntpolice Hi! Its Natalie. So I'm OK. But these rocks are getting kinda boring. Can you come find me? Thanks. #fuckwallabys"
Authorities say they now know Tran must be within the 15 square km mobile coverage area surrounding Yulara, but cannot pinpoint her location precisely.
In an address broadcast live to the nation Prime Minister Julia Gillard promised to do everything in the government's power to find Tran and return her to Sydney.
"I have instructed AUSSAR to make finding Tran their number one priority," Gillard told the nation from her office in the Australian capital of Canberra, "We will not rest until Natalie is back in her basement so that she can continue making the videos Australians have grown to love."
Trans-national Appeal
Concern has not been limited to her native country. Tran hasn't uploaded a video in three months, a source of worry for her formidable global fanbase.
"I can't say I'm surprised," says Sarah Johnson, a subscriber in Scotland "I figured it was either a vicious koala attack, a kangaroo kidnapping, or an outback misadventure. I hope they find her soon!"
Leaders from around the world also expressed their best wishes and offered aid:
U.K. foreign secretary William Hague expressed his desire that Tran be found quickly so his granddaughter would stop asking him to bring up the issue of new videos with Australia's ambassador in London.
And U.S. president Barack Obama has offered Australia support in the search, pledging the use of advanced American spy satellites. The White House issued a statement reading in part:
"All Americans are concerned about the situation in Australia. We hope Ms. Tran is found soon and can continue to make the world laugh through her videos."
"Although if we're the ones who find her," Obama added "We're gonna ask for those Lamingtons in return."
UPDATE: Tran has been found near a billabong in the Northern Territory. She has reportedly passed the time alone in the wilderness writing a 400 page Harry Potter fan fiction novel.
