BAGUIO CITY– Sung Kyu Choi, the Korean national who was lost in the mountain ranges of Barlig, Mountain Province for at least 11 days, is very thankful to his Filipino rescuers for saving his life.
“Maraming salamat sa lahat po..“, was his heartfelt message to everyone who made efforts to find him. He said that he will never forget his experience and the kindness of the locals.
Rescuers found the missing Korean on June 20 after getting lost in the thick forest of Mount Amuyao for days. He set forth from Barlig to Banaue, Ifugao on June 9 following a path from the internet when he got lost in the wilderness.
On June 14, Korean embassy officials went to Barlig and informed them that they received a call that Choi was lost.
Members of the Mountain Province Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council and the Barlig Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council were immediately dispatched. Choi was became the subject of a massive search-and-rescue operation in Mountain Province and in Ifugao for more than a week.
Joselito Tukyap, a resident of barangay Latang, Barlig, found the Korean tourist, already very weak, in a rice granary in the mossy forest noon of June 20. He then informed the members of the Barlig police station and other rescuers who carried Choi on their backs and later on a stretcher passing thru the rice paddies to the Barlig District Hospital where he was given initial treatment.
The Korean was later transferred to the Bontoc District Hospital and to the Saint Louis Hospital in Baguio City.
Choi plans to go back to Barlig to personally thank the people who helped him. **RMC & J. Esmele- PIA-CAR/ UC Intern
