In his most recent Facebook post, Gaskell, 25, recovering now after having spent close to two weeks lost in the jungles, said: “I did not have permission to be on that trail and should have registered for the Mount Mulu guide trip to show me the way.
“Had I followed correct park rules I would have avoided this incident completely.”
Pledging to always follow park rules in the future, Gaskell said he hoped others too would learn from his harrowing experience and do what was right.
He also thanked everyone who scoured the jungles in search of him, making special mention of the Marudi police, DSP Gabriel Risut, the Marudi Fire and Rescue Department as well as scores of others including the Malaysian community and his family and friends back home.
“I am deeply sorry for all the trouble I have caused and now need to rest and recover.”
In a report in Australia’s nine.com, Gaskell spoke of being haunted by the prospect he would not see his 26th birthday and would die in the jungle.
Faint from hunger, Gaskell took to eating wild ferns in a desperate bid to stay alive and drank water from a river.
A search and rescue team however found him on Tuesday, Nov 1 unconscious, emaciated, covered in leeches and with his feet injured and his nails infected.
Relating how he came to lose his way in the jungle on October 20, Gaskell spoke of descending the mountain at sunset, then losing his bearings after coming upon many different trails leading in all directions.
“I ended up spending that whole night just wandering and really got myself badly disorientated,” nine.com reported Gaskell telling ABC radio.
“If I had a GPS or navigational equipment I would have been fine. That was extremely stupid of me, really.”
Gaskell’s mother, Elizabeth however said she “felt amazing relief” when her youngest son phoned with news that Andrew had been found.
“I spoke to my son (Ben) first, he said ‘he is alive, weak but alive’,” Elizabeth told the Hobart Mercury.
“I’m really thankful to all the volunteers that helped and I’m so thankful to God he’s safe,” she said.