Last four of six hikers missing in the mountains rescued

Safe and sound: Fink (centre) being led by a volunteer after he was rescued with three other hikers in Amlan, Negros Oriental. — AFP

Four foreign hikers who had been missing for days in a mountainous area of the central region have been rescued, local authorities said, a day after their two companions were found safe.

The six-man group, which inclu­ded German, British, Russian and Canadian nationals, had set out on Wednesday for what was to be a four-hour excursion in an area of Negros Oriental province officials said was hit by a downpour.

“The army rescuers found them in the vicinity of the Silab hydropower plant,” said Jose Lawrence Silorio, a rescue official in the municipality of Amlan, near the province’s Balinsasayao Twin Lakes Natural Park.

Police identified the men as Ger­mans Aldwin Fink, 60, and Wolfgang Schlenker, 67; Russian Anton Chernov, 38; and 50-year-old Canadian Terry De Gunten.

Philippine Army personnel found the hikers in a mountainous area thick with vegetation, said investigator Leo Gil Villa­franca.

“They told the army they got lost due to the fog,” he said, adding that all the hikers were residents of the province.

The four were discovered at 9.44am yesterday, according to local authorities.

“Overall, they are OK, but they had minor abrasions. We wrap­ped one of them in a blanket because he was feeling cold, but he was eventually able to stand up on his own,” Silorio said.

“They told us they had survived by eating edible plants in the forest,” he added.

Silorio said the group was found about 10km from where fellow hikers Torsten Martin Gros­chupp, 58, and Alexander Rad­vanyi, 63, were discovered on Friday morning.

An image posted to a police Facebook page showed De Gun­ten, his legs bloodied, talking to rescuers inside an ambulance while Chernov lay on a stretcher wrapped in a blanket.

Police on Friday said the weather had likely played a role in the group’s becoming lost on what they said was a “difficult” trail in a mountainous area the men were tackling without a guide.

“It was rainy at the time and that led to zero visibility,” said Valencia police officer Henry Japay, adding there was no cell phone reception in the area. — AFP