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Missing hiker found alive after five days in California forest

George Null was found in a remote area of the Angeles National Forest, just outside the city of Los Angeles, authorities said.
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A hiker who went missing for five days in the Angeles National Forest in California has been found alive, authorities said Wednesday.

George Null was found in a remote area of the Angeles National Forest, just outside the city of Los Angeles, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

The department posted a photo on Twitter of Null and one of the officers who rescued him, saying that "he was happy to be safe and airlifted" after a massive search effort.

Null, 58, was last seen on Saturday morning in Pasadena. A day after, authorities found his vehicle in the Angeles National Forest and believed he was heading for Mount Waterman, a ski area in the forest.

Authorities did not specify how Null got lost or what his condition was, but his sister, Rebecca Latta, told CBS Los Angeles that Null was an experienced hiker and Eagle Scout who went astray because the trail markers were burned off by the Bobcat Fire in Southern California last year.

She added that Null was in good health and sustained minor injuries.

"He gave me a huge hug," Latta said. "I think he's so exhausted that I really think he doesn't have a lot of words right now, and he's a little bit delirious after five days of wandering around in the forest."

Efforts to reach Null and his sister for numbers listed for them were unsuccessful Thursday.