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Explorer Benedict Allen was found “alive and well” today after vanishing in the remote jungles of Papua New Guinea.
Allen, 57, disappeared after going looking for the Yaifo people, a reclusive tribe who have little contact with outsiders, three weeks ago.
A search was launched after his family raised concerns for his safety when he failed to catch a flight to Hong Kong on Sunday.
He was spotted at 7am by a missionary in Enga Province, who said he asked to be rescued. His family were celebrating the news.
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His spokeswoman Jo Sarsby told the Standard: “Keith Copley, the coordinating director for New Tribe Mission in Papua New Guinea, confirmed in writing that Benedict Allen was safe and healthy and is located at a remote airstrip 20 miles northwest of Porgera, Enga Province.
“Confirmation on exact location coordinates are now being confirmed in order to arrange evacuation as soon as possible.”
She said it was “good news”, adding: “Apparently you can’t get there by road so they are hoping to send a helicopter tomorrow.”
He did not take a phone or GPS device when he entered the crocodile-infested jungle searching for the tribe he met 30 years ago. He had been hoping to film them for a BBC documentary.
Mr Allen’s friend, BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner, who travelled to Papua New Guinea with him twice last year, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “He’s been sighted. Tribal chiefs in the area that he went missing say that he has been sighted near an airstrip, that he’s okay, that his health is fine, that he’s requesting rescue.”
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He said Mr Allen was “marooned” and only reachable by air because all road bridges in the area were cut due to tribal fighting. Urgent efforts were now under way to try to airlift him out as soon as possible in case “fighting erupts around him”, he said.
Mr Gardner added: “I’m quite annoyed with him as his friend. He left with no plan, he had no evacuation plan, he didn’t give anybody any idea of where he was going.
“I’m sure he’s come back with an incredible story to tell and he’ll regale audiences at the National Geographic Society but we could have done without this worry.”
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His wife Lenka earlier said she and her three children Natalya, 10, Freddie, seven, and Beatrice, 2, were “seriously worried” about him.
She said “everything possible” had gone through her head, fearing he had been bitten by a snake, got lost or contracted an illness, but said: “He does know a lot about the jungle.”
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His sister, Katy Pestille, 62, said it was the second time he had gone missing. She said: “Lenka is being brave but we are cross with him. It is typical of him to go off without GPS. He likes to do things the hard way.”
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