Two missing tourists were found by a Skymed rescue helicopter at 8.10 this morning about 1.5 miles inthe Salt Rock part of the Nature’s Valley trail, off course of their intended route.
Yolann de Boeve’, 24, from Belgium, and Kwangnam Kim, 33, from South Korea, on holdiay on South Africa were airlifted to safety.
Plettenberg Bay Mountain Rescue Club members assisted with their being hoisted into the Skymed rescue helicopter and they were flown to the Joint Operations Command Centre (JOCC) that had been set up at the Forest Hall Platform in natures Valley.
According to their account, the two men may have missed a turning while hiking along a path on the hiking trail causing them to walk into a barely accessible area of the Salt Rock area and lost their way.
When night fell they bunkered down for the night rather than attempting to negotiate the unfamiliar terrain in the dark. They were able to make a fire, remained in good spirits and they slept. They were spotted from the air by the Skymed rescue helicopter during an ongoing search this morning.
They were found in good spirits, a bit hungry, with a few minor scratches and bruises, but are otherwise not injured. The rescue team is transporting them back to the backpackers lodge where they are staying while on holiday.
Staff of the Wild Spirit Backpackers Lodge, at The Crags, Natures Valley, Plettenberg Bay, are commended for raising the alarm early after their two guests failed to meet pre-arranged deadlines. The joint rescue teams were thus able to quickly formulate an extensive search which resulted in a successful outcome.
News source: NSRI
(edited)
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The question to be asked here, and hopefully will be attended to in the future, is ”Why these foreign tourists were left to walk the trail alone without a guide accompanying them?” If anything drastic had happened to them, law suits would have been issued against the company concerned as well as other parties involved. Remember 2012 that traumatic drama involving young students in the Western Cape, who also had to be searched for and later found dehydrated along their hiking trail? The trail guides there were also no where to be found wanting, neither the group leaders.”.
Sorry, should read ”also the group leaders”. Very reckless on overlooking this from a organizational point of view.
On Sat, Sep 7, 2013 at 11:17 AM, Andre Martinaglia wrote:
> The question to be asked here, and hopefully will be attended to in the > future, is ”Why these foreign tourists were left to walk the trail alone > without a guide accompanying them?” If anything drastic had happened to > them, law suits would have been issued against the company concerned as > well as other parties involved. Remember 2012 that traumatic drama > involving young students in the Western Cape, who also had to be searched > for and later found dehydrated along their hiking trail? The trail guides > there were also no where to be found wanting, neither the group leaders.”. > > > On Sat, Sep 7, 2013 at 9:43 AM, St Francis Chronicle <