Journalist missing in Norway survived six nights in wilderness with leg injury

The Guardian

2 days ago

Rescuers in Norway have found the award-winning environmental journalist Alec Luhn alive after he went missing in the remote Folgefonna national park and survived nearly a week alone in the wilderness with a serious leg injury.
Luhn, a US-born reporter who has worked for the New York Times and the Atlantic and was a regular Russia correspondent for the Guardian from 2013 to 2017, was reported missing on Monday after he failed to catch a flight to the UK from Bergen.
Luhn, 38, had been holidaying with his sister in Norway and set out on a four-day hike alone on 31 July from the outdoor centre of Ullensvang, on the northern edge of the park, a 550 sq km wilderness in the west of Norway that is home to one of the country's biggest glaciers.
At a press briefing from Haukeland hospital in Bergen, the head of the air ambulance service and trauma centre, Geir Arne Sunde, said Luhn had hurt himself on the evening he set out. 'He is seriously injured, but not critically injured,' he said. Rescue teams found Luhn at 11.34am local time on Wednesday, the Norwegian Red Cross said.
'He has managed in the mountain in very bad weather for five days, without much food or drink,' Sunde said. 'He has been very lucky.'
'I can't remember us finding someone alive after so many days,' said Stig Hope, head of the operations leadership team at Folgefonna and a Red Cross volunteer.
'The search doesn't always end like this – but today, it did. It's a huge relief for everyone who's been part of the effort.'
A volunteer search and rescue team from the Red Cross, police, dogs, specialised climbing teams and drones were all involved in looking for him. The operation had to be suspended late on Monday night and then again on Tuesday owing to rapidly deteriorating weather conditions, including heavy rainfall.
Sunde said Luhn had heard the helicopters searching for him for several days before one of them finally spotted him.
Luhn's sister Drew Gaddis confirmed in a social media post that he had been found 'in overall good health' and was being transported to Bergen by helicopter. She thanked the Norwegian police, the teams of staff and volunteers involved and the thousands of people who had helped share news of the search. 'We can breathe again!' she said.
Veronika Silchenko, Luhn's wife, told the Verden Gans newspaper: 'We are very, very happy. Many thanks to everyone in Norway who has helped find him.'
Among numerous awards, Luhn has two Emmy nominations. He was based for many years in Moscow, then Istanbul, and now lives in the UK where he specialises in climate journalism and is a Pulitzer Center Ocean Reporting Network fellow.
Folgefonna, the third largest icecap in Norway, is on a peninsula famed for its fjords, mountains, rivers, lakes and icefalls. It has been a centre for wilderness adventure since the 19th century. Parts are desolate and can be treacherous, especially in poor weather.