Last 4 missing hikers rescued

MANILA, Philippines — Four hikers who were among six foreigners reported missing in the mountains of Negros Oriental were rescued yesterday morning in the forest of Amlan town.

The rescue of the foreigners came a day after their two companions were found in Barangay Blurry in nearby Valencia town on Friday.

The six-man group – which included German, British, Russian and Canadian nationals – on Wednesday set out for a four-hour hike in an area hit by a heavy downpour, according to local officials.

“Army rescuers found them in the vicinity of a hydropower plant in Barangay Silab,” Jose Lawrence Silorio, rescue officer in Amlan, said.

The area where the hikers were found is located near the Balinsasayao Twin Lakes Natural Park.

Police identified the foreigners as Germans Aldwin Fink, 60, and Wolfgang Schlenker, 67; Russian Anton Chernov, 38, and Canadian Terry de Gunten, 50.

On Friday, soldiers rescued British Alexander Radvanyi, 63, and, German Torsten Martin Groschupp, 50.

The hikers were found in a mountainous area thick with vegetation, according to investigator Leo Gil Villafranca.

“They told the Army they got lost due to the fog,” Villafranca said, adding all six hikers reside in the province.

“They are safe although they suffered 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.

He said the hikers survived by eating edible plants they found in the forest.

Silorio said the group was found at 9:44 a.m., some 10 kilometers away from where Groschupp and Radvanyi were found earlier.

Images posted on social media showed De Gunten, with his legs bloodied, talking to rescuers in an ambulance, and Chernov lying on a stretcher wrapped in a blanket.

Police said on Friday that bad weather may have caused the group to get lost along the way. The trail that the hikers tracked was reportedly difficult.

“It was rainy at the time and the visibility was zero,” said Valencia police officer Henry Japay. He said there was no phone signal in the area.

“Maybe they stopped and took shelter when it started raining,” Japay said.