A 76-year-old Norwegian tourist was reported missing after she went out for a late afternoon walk on January 20 in Phetchaburi’s Cha-am seaside town, triggering a massive search operation.
An exhausted Hanne Schchikora Toskardal was found with a sprained angle 26 hours later around 6 pm on January 21 in an isolated area covered with trees and tall grass just outside Cha-am — not too far from the place she had been staying.
Police was first alerted by the woman’s friends that she made a call on her mobile phone around 7 pm saying she sprained her angle and was feeling dizzy after getting lost in a jungle.
Police and a group of friend went out in search but could not find her as it was dark. Toskardal called again one hour later to say she was resting under a tree. That’s when her mobile phone signals disconnected and subsequent calls failed to reach her.
Local police called off the search shortly after midnight.
The next morning, dozens of policemen and local volunteers, with sniffing dogs, combed the nearby tropical jungle looking for Toskardal. A police helicoptor was dispatched to join the search.
The search went on all day on January 21 but they couldn’t locate her until one person decided to try calling her mobile phone again. This time she picked up the phone and reported hearing people calling to her and the sound of helicoptor overhead.
Based on her description of the surrounding, the search party zeroed in on a isolated spot not far away from the hotel resort she had been staying and found her to the relief of her friends and rescuers.
Source: Thai newspapers
