MANILA (AFP) – Police in the central Philippines said yesterday that two foreign hikers had been rescued 48 hours after they went missing during a downpour but a search for their four companions was still underway.
German Torsten Martin Groschupp, 58, and British national Alexander Radvanyi, 63, were found between 10 and 11am (0200-0300 GMT), according to a rural health officer in Negros Oriental province.
“They are not (dehydrated), they said they were able to drink water from the lake. One of them had packed snacks,” the officer, who asked to be identified as Dr Sheryl, told AFP.
She added that Groschupp told her the excursion, near the province’s Balinsasayao Twin Lakes Natural Park, had been meant to last just four hours.
The four men still missing are 60-year-old German national Aldwin Fink; Russian Anton Chernov, 38; German Wolfgang Schlenker, 67; and a 50-year-old Canadian man identified only as Terry, according to police in the Valencia municipality. Police 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.
“There’s a big possibility that they stopped and took shelter when it started raining.”
Groschupp and Radvanyi had “superficial abrasions” on their hands and lower extremities, according to the health officer.
Police, soldiers and foreign volunteers were continuing their search for the missing four, said Japay.
“We are expecting that we will find the four people. We are praying to God that they will be safe.”
A call for volunteers described the terrain as “highly dangerous” and challenging.
