French hiker Simon Gautier is believed to have died shortly after his fall in a ravine in southern Italy, according to a source in the Italian gendarmerie, which conducted a first analysis of his body Monday.
"Probably" dead one hour after his call
"Death followed shortly after his call (for help, at 8:57) At 10:00, he was probably already dead," the source told reporters. The body of the hiker had serious leg injuries, but his head did not seem to have been touched, the source said.
Simon's father, who participated in the research with his mother and other relatives of the young man, recognized the body at the Sapri hospital.
"He probably lost consciousness and dropped his phone"
Members of the alpine rescue had been watching all night the body found Sunday night after nine days of research. The delicate operations to wind it up lasted all morning. In this steep area where the cliffs plunge into the sea, in the town of San Giovanni a Piro, about 200 km south of Naples, the rescuers placed the body on a stretcher and rappelled it down. at a small beach below. From there, a Coast Guard star rescued him and took him to Policastro Bussentino harbor.
Sportsman and organized, Simon Gautier lived for two years in Rome to write a thesis in history of art. He had left on Thursday, August 8, with water and food, for several days of solo trekking along the coast, but had called for help the next morning, explaining that he broke his two legs. falling off a cliff. Unfortunately, he could not tell where he was. "In the middle of nowhere, on the coast". It was not possible to locate his phone and he did not answer the successive calls for help. "He probably lost consciousness and dropped his phone," said the same source within the gendarmerie.
His body found nine days after his disappearance
Saturday, the Salerno prefecture had said in a statement that everything had been done from the call for help to locate the young man and then try to find him, in a large area that initially stretched over 140 km2. Initially few, the specialists (firefighters, alpine rescue, dog teams) were a hundred on the job Sunday, nine days after the disappearance of Simon Gautier, with a helicopter and drones, and the help of locals. It was finally with a pair of binoculars that a member of the alpine rescue team spotted a white plastic bag. Hurry on the spot, a team discovered below the backpack of the young man, then his body lifeless.