An award-winning journalist was found alive after going on a solo hike in Norway. Fortunately, this search and rescue has a happy ending.
Journalist Alec Luhn went missing after going on a four-day solo backpacking trip in southern Norway's Folgefonna National Park. He never made it back home.
His wife, Veronika Silchenko, told CBS News she last spoke to him while he was in the middle of his hiking trip. He never called again during the trip. She said, "Alec is basically obsessed with the Arctic. He loves glaciers and snow, and he loves explorers, and he's a climate journalist, so for him it is always that story that now because of the climate change they're all shrinking, and he's trying his best to go to the coldest countries."
She said that she became worried when the journalist didn't contact her and missed his flight.
Journalist Found Alive
"We exchanged a few texts. He told me that he is going to hike and sent me a picture. He looked fine, the weather was fine," she said.
She continued, "I started to worry slightly on Sunday, but then I thought that it's Norway and it's totally normal to be out of connection in the mountains, so I (decided to) wait and ... do something if he's not back online on Monday."
Fortunately, the Norwegian Red Cross confirmed that the missing journalist was "found alive near Folgefonna." He was "transported for medical treatment."
"Alec is alive!" his mom, Sarah Marie Luhn, told ABC affiliate WISN-TV. "Something is wrong with his leg, but otherwise, he's in good health. Thank God!"
Meanwhile, Silchenko told local news outlet VG, "We are very, very happy! Many thanks to everyone in Norway who has helped to find him."
Stig Hope, a Red Cross volunteer and head of the operations leadership team at Folgefonna, said she was glad that this search and rescue had a happy ending.
"The search doesn't always end like this — but today, it did," Hope explained. "It's a huge relief for everyone who's been part of the effort."
