A body that may belong to a missing British tourist has been found in Romania
A body has been found in the Bucegi mountain region of Romania that, according to the Avon and Somerset Police, is believed to be that of 18-year-old British national George Smith, who went missing last year while hiking. Formal identification has not yet been completed. Once that is done, efforts will be made to repatriate the body to the United Kingdom.
George Smith was a geology student at the University of Bristol and was from Newport in Shropshire. He went missing in November. The young man’s family has already been notified; a family liaison officer is working with them, according to The Guardian.
Smith’s relatives said they are devastated by George’s death and thanked the Romanian mountain rescue service Salvamont for the search, which had been ongoing since November in difficult and dangerous conditions. They also thanked the Avon and Somerset Police and the University of Bristol for their assistance in the search and for their support of the family.
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On Wednesday, mountain rescuers reported that they had resumed the search in previously identified areas, particularly near cliffs and in hard-to-reach sectors, but without success at that time. According to available information, the student set out from Poyana-Brașov toward Brașov and reached Țigănești, from where he made an emergency call.
Rescuers reported at the time that he was in a very remote and hard-to-reach mountainous area. Weather conditions were extremely challenging: strong winds, heavy snowfall, and thick fog. A canine search team, drones, and helicopters were deployed for the search operation. Sebastian Marinescu, a representative of the local mountain rescue service, previously told the BBC that at the time of the emergency call, the 18-year-old hiker was disoriented, physically exhausted, and showing signs of hypothermia.
