Night search for a tourist in the mountains. He had been on the road for 24 days

Hiking alone in the mountains can be dangerous. Recently, this was discovered by two tourists who suddenly disappeared from GPS radars and were then evacuated by a team of eight rescuers. Yesterday evening, the search began for another tourist who stopped contacting his family. The man had been walking alone on the SNP Heroes’ Path for 24 days. This is the longest hiking trail in Slovakia.

Night call for Slovak mountain rescuers

The incident took place on January 18 in the evening. Rescuers from Horska Záchranna Služba, the Slovak equivalent of the TOPR emergency service, received a disturbing report from the family of a tourist who had been on the 770-kilometer Trail of the Heroes of SNP, considered the longest hiking trail in Slovakia, for over three weeks. Throughout his trip, the 33-year-old Slovak tourist shared the location with his loved ones, but unexpectedly the signal was disrupted. “After reaching the Priehyby saddle in the Low Tatras, contact with the family was interrupted for a longer period of time,” we read in a statement from HZS on its official Facebook profile.

A happy ending to the search operation

After receiving a call from the family, HZS rescuers asked the Central Operations Center of PZ SR to systematically check the location of the cell. Rescuers from many Slovak forces took part in the rescue operation. “Mountain rescuers from the southern and northern sides of the Low Tatras took part in the ground search operation. ECMO workshops have also been activated in Banska Bystrica,” we read. The search operation was successful. It turned out that at the same time the tourist was already peacefully in the shelter in Priehyba, where he spent the entire night. “It was quite irresponsible of him that, since the family was used to regular contacts, he was on such a long trip and stopped calling,” reads the comment of one of the Internet users.