Aussies missing in Bolivia found safe

The world's largest salt flats at Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia / Flickr user Casablance

FIVE Australians reported missing in Bolivia have been found safe after the group got lost in the Salar de Uyuni, the world's largest salt flat.

A search party made up of Bolivian police had been looking for the group of Aussie tourists and their guide who failed to return from the Salar de Uyuni, the world's largest salt flat.

The group was made up of three males and two females aged between 21 and 31 who went missing after leaving the nearby southern city of Tupiza on Thursday, local police said.

But a spokeswoman from the Australian Consulate in La Paz said the group had been found safe and had only been missing because their car had gotten severely bogged in mud on the salt flat.

"They are ok," Cristina Fernandez, honorary consul in La Paz, told The Sunday Telegraph.

"They were not missing and nothing really happened...they were on the salt flat which is very big and their vehicle got stuck in the mud because there is a lot of water on there at the moment," Ms Fernandez said.

"There is no phone reception in that area because it is very high so they couldn't call anyone."

Ms Fernandez said all five of the tourists were in good condition and were staying in the city of Uyuni near the salt flats.

It is currently the wet season in Bolivia which is the most popular time to see the salt planes. Increased moisture causes visual effect popular with tourists because it makes the surface of the salt plane look the same colour as the sky.

At 10,582 square kilometres, the Salar de Uyuni is the largest salt flat in the world.

There are no roads in the Salar, which is located near the crest of the Andes, some 3,650 meters (11,975 feet) above sea level, and spread across a desolate expanse of 12,000 square kilometers (4,600 square miles).

Visitors usually navigate their way around the treacherous landscape by relying on tracks left by previous vehicles, but these can be washed out by heavy rain.

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