Policastro Bussentino (Italy) (AFP)
The race against the clock continued Sunday in a narrow area of research on the coast in southern Italy to find Simon Gautier, a young French hiker who was injured nine days ago.
Under a blazing sun, the Italian authorities have mobilized specialized teams of firefighters and dog units and are scanning the steep coast near Policastro Bussentino, about 200 km south of Naples, using helicopters, drones and Coast Guard stars.
According to the Italian media, many shepherds, guides and inhabitants of the region have joined the research, as well as twenty friends of Simon Gautier, a 27-year-old Frenchman who has been living in Rome for two years to write a thesis in history. art.
He had planned a solo hike between Policastro Bussentino and Naples, along this sumptuous but arduous coast where mountains and cliffs throw themselves into the sea. He had also sent a picture of his backpack to his relatives: water, food, a book, sandals ...
Images of surveillance cameras show him arriving at the Policastro Bussentino station on Thursday, August 8 around 4:00 pm (14:00 GMT), wearing a black tank top and jeans bermuda shorts. He stopped to buy a bottle of water and then hit the road.
On Friday, August 9th, shortly after 9:00 am (07:00 GMT), he called for help with his mobile phone. According to the recording of the call, he stated that he fell off a cliff and broke both legs, but could not tell where he was, "in the middle of nowhere on the coast".
- Hope -
"From the moment that Simon's call for help reached the carabinieri (...), the operations began immediately to geolocate the phone," said the Salerno prefecture, on which the area depends, in a statement Saturday.
But this geolocation is complicated because there are very few antennas in this uninhabited region, said a law enforcement official.
According to Simon Gautier's relatives, relief efforts have been slow to mobilize. The first helicopter took off only on the 10th of August in the afternoon, and the shore crews had long remained small for a craggy search area of more than 140 km2.
But alpine rescue teams arrived on Saturday and after nine days of anguish, the friends of the young man ensure hope: according to them, Simon Gautier is "very sporty and organized", he had prepared well his trip and had water and food to hold.
In addition, three witnesses said on Saturday that he saw him on a beach where he seemed to be preparing to spend the night.
That leaves only three main trails to follow in an attempt to find him, even if he hinted that he had lost the trail when he called for help.
© 2019 AFP