By Tanya Steele
The amazing Hills community turned out in hundreds to lend strength and heart to a visiting family as their worst nightmare unfolded just before Easter.
Emergency volunteers and residents came together to search, comfort and help in whatever way they could as a search and rescue effort unfolded in Olinda.
“Yes, it’s true – My son Parsa was on the news,” said parent Sahar Abedi on Sunday 20 April on social media.
“My worst nightmare came to life — I lost my son in one of the most beautiful places I know, and he spent 17 hours alone overnight in the bush,” she wrote.
The young boy who went missing in Olinda around 4pm on Friday, 18 April, was found safe and well.
Six-year-old Parsa Naimi was found around 8.20am on Saturday, 19 April, by a local Kalorama resident, Asher Schinkfield, eight kilometres from where he went missing.
Talking with Star News and multiple media outlets at the Olinda Playspace on Saturday morning, Acting Senior Sergeant Melissa Gostimir from Knox Police said Parsa has been reunited with his parents and has been checked over by Victoria Ambulance staff.
“There’s not a scratch on him, thankfully,” she said.
“I believe he’s been given a banana and some water, and now he’s cuddling up with his Mum, having a snooze.”
Parsa travelled around eight kilometres north of the playspace overnight, and the young boy had been wearing an AirTag, but he had taken it off.
Emergency service staff and search and rescue volunteers searched but had no luck locating him, dealing with the bushy terrain of the Dandenong Ranges.
Mountain biker Asher Shinkfield was out for his morning ride on Saturday and had heard the little boy was missing, but did not expect to find him.
“I was coming up the fire road and saw him just on the side of the road,” he said.
“He was just sitting cross-legged, tired and cold.”
On having found the young boy, Asher said it did make him feel good, but that the huge community effort was amazing.
“I feel good, obviously, but it’s great that so many people here are helping, like volunteers and the police and everyone,” he said.
Asher said Parsa was pretty calm as he sat with him and called the police, having seen the local social media notice boards that had reported him missing.
“I think it was probably the tiredness, I just made sure to give him some water, and I was smiling at him,” he said.
Acting Senior Sergeant Gostimir said authorities were really fortunate that it had been very mild weather, so there were no major issues healthwise with Parsa when he was found, other than him being lethargic, tired, a bit dehydrated and hungry.
“The poor thing, I think he was just excited to be reunited with Mum and Dad,” she said.
The primary school-aged boy from Forest Hill was originally reported missing after wandering from the Olinda Playspace area, on Olinda-Monbulk Road, on Friday afternoon.
Parsa’s mother Sahar, later described on social media how she felt when she realised he had gone missing.
“We were surrounded by the golden beauty of autumn. I was taking photos of Parsa, who had a tracker on, and in just a blink, he took off. I ran after him,” she wrote.
“He vanished into the dense forest.”
“From that moment until he was found, I lived through a thousand deaths.”
Parsa, who has autism and is non-verbal, was last seen by family members at about 4pm.
Friends and relatives searched for the boy before reporting him missing about 30 minutes later.
Local police, Air Wing, State Emergency Services (SES), CFA personnel and community and from near and far searched the area as well.
Acting Senior Sergeant Gostimir said they had many resources out looking for the missing boy and that everyone went out there and everyone did their absolute best.
“We had community volunteers coming out to assist us,” she said.
“We had all our members playing Parsa’s favourite music.”
“We had Hickory Dickory Dock and an A, B, C song on phone speakers, trying to call out for him.”
The rescue effort was big and fast, from sniffer dogs to thermal imaging cameras and helicopters overhead searching for Parsa.
Members of the public were also meeting at the oval next to the playspace, asking if they could help.
“With all of our resources and we had around 200 people helping,” said Acting Senior Sergeant Gostimir.
“We were really fortunate to have members from the community coming out to assist with the search,” she said.
Parsa’s Father, Siamak Naimi, came out to thank the community and young Asher, the two chatting for a while before he went back to his son. He also rang Parsa’s twin sister, who was anxiously waiting to hear that her brother was ok at home.
The family asked for privacy that morning as Parsa sat and had some orange juice and water with his mother while being monitored by ambulance staff.
Later, over social media, Parsa’s mother, Sahar, thanked the Hills.
“It wasn’t just the SES teams, the police force, or the firefighters who searched tirelessly for my boy. It was the local community — the heroes without uniforms,” she wrote.
“People I had never met brought us clothes, toys for Parsa’s twin sister, warm homemade cakes, food, water, and hearts full of love.”
“I’ve always known I was lucky to call Australia home, but this experience showed me just how extraordinary this country’s people truly are.”
She thanked Asher as well, writing that she was deeply grateful.
“To the young man who found Parsa, sat beside him, and gave him water — Parsa’s guardian angel will look after you, my friend. I’m so deeply grateful for you,” she wrote.
