Romania - George Smyth, 18,’called emergency services, saying he was exhausted & suffering from hypothermia’ snowy mountains of Romania, 23 Nov 2025

[Hexe]

Teen Missing Near Dracula’s Castle for 9 Days After Going on Hike and Making Emergency Call for Hypothermia and Exhaustion

A British teenager has been missing for nearly 10 days after going on a solo hike near Dracula's Castle in Romania on Nov. 23.

people.com

[…]
Sebastian Marinescu, director of Salvamont Brasov, told local media, per The Times, “The backpack had quite a lot of equipment in it — a sleeping bag, a tent. My colleagues even found food all around. So we don’t understand what happened and where he could have gone.”

Considering George decided to go to Romania pretty unexpectedly and without telling anyone, I would not be surprised if he suffered the psychosis of some sort.

 

[Hexe]

Then when we add in he could have been suffering from hypothermia and mentally doing things that make no sense, it is just reckless for them to ask him to go somewhere else.

Quotes from here:

He said George's location was in a "very isolated and hard-to-access mountain area" and the conditions "were extremely severe with strong winds, heavy snowfall and dense fog".

George was told to turn back along the same route and keep moving to make sure he does not fall asleep.

Falling asleep would equal dying in these circumstances. Staying put had good chances to kill him. Telling him to walk back was more reasonable, IMO.

Another interesting tidbit from the same text:

Mr Marinescu said: "We still cannot fully understand why he continued forward, especially since darkness sets in around 17:00 at this time of year."

Weird indeed, the kid had a full camping gear with him.

 

[LookingForClues]

I imagine at this point, there's no chance he's survived since they found his backpack with anything he could use while hunkered down. Even if he wore layers beneath his shell jacket, such as a puffy, fleece and long underwear, he would need a change of dry clothes at some point (at least dry gloves and hat, but a dry baselayer would help tremendously too).

The search team apparently sent him a map and directions to head towards safety. I suspect he indicated he was capable of hiking down to meet them. They would have asked him this. He was above treeline and they were trying to get him off the high alpine where he had no protection from the storm. It takes time to assemble a search team, and then to reach the person calling for help. Add the storm to the mix, and it takes even longer. I'm not surprised they told him to move if he said he was able to.

I wonder how long after the call he stayed in place before abandoning his gear and food, and also his phone with the map. Perhaps he thought he was better off going fast and light, but that doesn't explain leaving his phone. Maybe he dropped his phone and couldn't find it in the snow and stormy weather. Something like that would create panic and take some time he might not have had given he was already hypothermic and exhausted. I think he was either worse off than he thought when he was speaking to rescuers, or something happened with his gear/phone that caused him to lose some much-needed time to reach safety.

(My opinion is based on my husband's experience doing mountain search and rescue.)

 

[KBlackRabbit]

Teen Missing Near Dracula’s Castle for 9 Days After Going on Hike and Making Emergency Call for Hypothermia and Exhaustion

A British teenager has been missing for nearly 10 days after going on a solo hike near Dracula's Castle in Romania on Nov. 23.

people.com

[…]
Sebastian Marinescu, director of Salvamont Brasov, told local media, per The Times, “The backpack had quite a lot of equipment in it — a sleeping bag, a tent. My colleagues even found food all around. So we don’t understand what happened and where he could have gone.”

Hypothermia, later stages include paradoxical undressing. He may have shed his backpack as part of this. When they find him he may have taken off some of his clothes.