Mountain rescuers are in a race against time to find a British teenager who went missing on a hike near Bran Castle in Romania.
George Smyth, 18, was trekking in the Bucegi mountains alone on 23 November, when he started to suffer from hypothermia and exhaustion and called the emergency services.
Mountain rescue services searched for Mr Smyth over the next few days but were only able to locate his rucksack containing his equipment and supplies in the area where he made the emergency call.
An appeal for information was issued on Friday by the Salvamont Brasov rescue service alongside a photograph of Mr Smyth, who had recently started studying at the University of Bristol.
His mother, Jo Smyth, has flown to Transylvania to support the search for her son. She said he left without telling anyone that he was going hiking alone.
According to rescuers, he set off from the Poiana Brasov neighbourhood on Sunday morning and started hiking towards Bran, a village known for its castle suggested to be the home of Dracula.
However, the teenager reached Tiganesti Valley, where he made the call to rescue teams.
“The backpack had quite a lot of equipment in it – a sleeping bag, a tent. My colleagues even found food all around. So we don’t understand what happened and where he could have gone,” Sebastian Marinescu, director of Salvamont Brasov, told a local media site.
The rescue service said that 20 mountain rescuers were mobilised on Friday and Saturday, but the operation was hindered by adverse weather with snow reaching more than 2m deep.
Thermal imaging cameras, sniffer dogs, and a Black Hawk helicopter were used by rescuers to reach inaccessible parts of the mountain.
His mother has described him as a “sporty and strong young man” who enjoyed travelling.
“We hope and pray that he somehow survives,” she told local news site Observator. “Just the thought of life without him is unbearable.”
A University of Bristol spokesperson said: “We’ve been informed that one of our students has been reported missing after independently travelling to Romania to go hiking.
“We are deeply concerned for his welfare and are in close contact with his family. Our thoughts are with them as they await any updates.”
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