A SEARCH is underway for a British teenager who disappeared in the mountains near Dracula’s Castle nearly two weeks ago.
George Smyth arrived in Romania on November 22 without telling his family that he planned to go on a hike by himself the next day.
According to his mother, the 18-year-old was not an inexperienced climber, but he chose not to tell his family about the trip so as not to worry them.
Investigators have since pieced together a rough timeline of his movements.
After setting out from Brașov in the morning, George reached the Diham area by around mid-afternoon.
As he was leaving Valea Țigănești at 11 p.m. that night, he called emergency services to say that he was exhausted and suffering from hypothermia.
TATE KNIFE ATTACK
Knifeman storms Andrew Tate’s compound in Romania stabbing worker, 53
BATTLE LINES DRAWN
Russia reveals Putin’s red line for WW3 with West after drone invasions
This was the last time anybody heard from him.
Sebastian Marinescu, chief of the rescue service, described the circumstances as deeply puzzling.
“It is a very strange case.
“The route he took on Sunday November 23 isn’t very difficult technically, but he chose a very long route, which can be done in two or three days, a route of about 15 miles in the mountains,” Marinescu said.
“It’s very strange because, as you know, it gets dark at 5 p.m.
“The weather was strange all day. So it rained with fog, it was kind of sleet.”
One of the most confusing details is that George appears to have passed near the Mălăiești Chalet sometime around 8 or 9 p.m.
“From the Mălăiești Chalet, there is also a refuge there, the chalet is about 5 hours by foot from Bran Castle, about 8 miles, which was open.
“Which means that he passed by the Mălăiești cabin at some point around 8 or 9 in the evening.
“I do not understand why didn’t he stop if he saw that the weather was terrible.
“I mean, it was totally unsuitable for someone to go up the mountain.
“Especially on such a long route, alone, at night.”
Rescuers later found his backpack.
“He had a sleeping bag in his backpack, he had a source of fire, a stove.
“I don’t know why he didn’t use them to keep warm,” Marinescu said.
During George’s call to emergency services, operators advised him to retrace his steps toward the chalet, a route that could have led him to shelter.
“When you go into hypothermia, you don’t stay in one place, because you fall asleep without realizing it.
“I do not know why he did not come back to the chalet,” he added.
Since then, search teams have battled severe weather conditions while trying to retrace George’s route across the rugged landscape.
In the last 48 hours, they were forced to halt operations due to a high avalanche risk on the mountain pass.
But preparations to resume are already underway.
“We are ready, the whole team is mobilized, and we are waiting to go up again for searches.
“Today, in the afternoon, we will climb again to the Mălăiești cabin.
“We will continue the searches on Thursday December 4 and we hope to have a good weather,” Marinescu said.
Throughout the ordeal, George’s mother has remained in contact with rescuers, waiting for news as temperatures fall and the days grow shorter.
The mountains have offered no answers yet, but the search continues.