France Tom Doherty, 67, Retired british Doctor, texted family begging for help after fall, Pyrenees, 6 Aug 2024

[StillDiggin]

Wife of missing British doctor reveals 'panic' at last messages

Tom Doherty, 67, from St Albans, was hiking near Col d'Escots when his family lost contact with him after he sent a flurry of Whatsapp messages - one of which read: 'Help, I've fallen and cannot move.'

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[Cinister09]

Search called off for retired British doctor, 67, who went missing while hiking in Pyrenees

 

[Ruthbullock]

Heartbreak as search called off for missing Brit, 67, who vanished on hike

THE search for missing Brit and beloved doctor Tom Doherty has been called off in a heartbreaking development. Tom vanished while hiking in the Pyrenees mountain range in France after sending a des…

www.thesun.co.uk

 

[suzyjackson]

Heartbreak as search called off for missing Brit, 67, who vanished on hike

THE search for missing Brit and beloved doctor Tom Doherty has been called off in a heartbreaking development. Tom vanished while hiking in the Pyrenees mountain range in France after sending a des…

www.thesun.co.uk

I'm quite surprised by this, are they literally just giving up? It hasn't even been a week yet.

 

[Occam's Zebra]

This is so sad.

It seems he didn't know how to share his location and they didn't know how to request his location from him?

On an iPhone, go into the Message app and tap on the thread of the person you want to share with. Then tap on their icon at the top of the screen. There should be choices to "share location" and "request location."

EDITED to add: Looks like they were on WhatsApp. You can share your location through that app but it's far more complicated.

 

[Cinister09]

EDITED to add: Looks like they were on WhatsApp. You can share your location through that app but it's far more complicated.

Sharing location through WhatsApp is not hard.
If anything I find it easier to share through WhatsApp than anything else because of how quick it is.
You click the little paperclip and then click the location button.

It's possible he didn't know how to do it - my mum wouldn't be able to share her location if I asked her.

 

[Rikissa]

I'm quite surprised by this, are they literally just giving up? It hasn't even been a week yet.

This French article says that the search is "suspended" but that the investigations continue. The area located near the mountain station has been searched, but who knows how far, and in what direction, he might have gone from there before the fall. The weather in the area for the next two days seems to be rainy and with thunder, so helicopter searches are not possible.

Disparition inquiétante dans les Pyrénées : les recherches pour retrouver le Britannique de 67 ans, Tom Doherty, suspendues

Après cinq jours de recherches intensives, les gendarmes de haute montagne ont suspendu, lundi 12 août 2024, les opérations pour retrouver Tom Doherty, un Britannique de 67 ans disparu lors d'une randonnée en Ariège.

france3--regions-francetvinfo-fr.translate.goog

Weather Escots - meteoblue

Today's and tonight's professional weather forecast for Escots. Precipitation radar, HD satellite images, and current weather warnings, hourly temperature, chance of rain, and sunshine hours.

www.meteoblue.com

 

[Ruthbullock]

Have I understood correctly- they have found his car, but still looking for his tent.

 

[KittyBee]

Have I understood correctly- they have found his car, but still looking for his tent.

I think it’s unclear. My understanding was that they had found both the tent and the car (see the Independent article and also the posts by the friend of the family on the UKC forum … although I note that there is contradictory information in other articles (e.g. this Sun article) quoting Anne Doherty as saying that if people have information about where he pitched his tent they should let police know.

 

[Grouse]

Have I understood correctly- they have found his car, but still looking for his tent.

On the website you linked to earlier the family friend said "He left his tent at the campsite and walked from his car, parked near Col d'Escots.".

Edit: just seen kittybee already mentioned this.

 

[Occam's Zebra]

Sharing location through WhatsApp is not hard.
If anything I find it easier to share through WhatsApp than anything else because of how quick it is.
You click the little paperclip and then click the location button.

It's possible he didn't know how to do it - my mum wouldn't be able to share her location if I asked her.

View attachment 524060

I don't have this option. I can try to share my location another way (tap the plus sign and I get "location" as an option) but I get a message telling me that WhatsApp doesn't have access to my location, and I have to go into Settings and give it access.

That's what I meant by it being more complicated.

 

[Grouse]

I think the thing is if you are hiking alone in sparsely populated areas where you would be in a fix if something went wrong, it's important to try to ensure someone could find you.

I had a wake up call a few years ago, I fell and badly injured my ankle (permanently) and had only given my partner vague details of where I was going (and it was on a route that would likely have been very isolated in parts). It was fortunate that I had not got far from the car when it happened and was able to get back.

So if I was still doing that kind of thing now I would definitely have something in place. Strava for example has a feature

"Beacon: Peace of mind for athletes and their loved ones.
Turn on Beacon and you can share your location in real time with your friend, partner, parent, coach, butler, therapist, highly intelligent dog - anyone cool enough to have your back in an emergency."

It's not my intention to judge here, as I nearly did the same thing but was lucky really (though my ankle would not agree), but so many threads on WS like this sadly, where people have been out in the wilds on their own and no one knew where they were.