4 more missing foreigners in Negros Oriental found
BACOLOD CITY—The four remaining foreigners who went missing while trekking in Mt. Talinis in Valencia town, Negros Oriental, were found safe by authorities in the vicinity of a hydropower plant in Amlan town on March 22.
The four—Russian national Anton Chernov, 38; a 50-year old Canadian identified only as Terry; and Germans Aldwin Fink, 60, and one Wolfgang, 67—were located in Barangay Hantianon, according to Lt. Stephen Polinar, spokesperson of the Negros Oriental Police Provincial Office.
“We have yet to determine their specific conditions. But they were already located,” he told the Inquirer in a phone interview on Saturday afternoon.
The foreigners’ two other companions—German national Torsten Martin Groschupp, 58, and British national Alexander Radvanyi, 63—were earlier found by authorities on Friday morning.
At least two teams composed of members of the Philippine Army were deployed in the mountains of Valencia town and nearby municipalities to track down the missing foreigners.
Polinar said they had a hard time communicating with the troops sent to Valencia due to the poor communication signal following a power outage in Metro Negros Oriental on Saturday.
Public appeal
The Valencia police earlier posted the photos of the six foreigners with an appeal to the public who may have seen them to report any sightings of those missing to the authorities.
Polinar said the six foreigners left at 8 a.m. on Wednesday for a hike in Mt. Talinis with no provisions for an overnight stay, indicating that they had intended to return on the same day.
They entered through Sitio Lunas in Barangay Malabo, Valencia and were headed for the Twin Lakes of Balinsasayao and Danao.
“According to Groschupp and Radvanyi, both of them decided not to proceed to Balinsasayao while their four companions pushed through with the plan to go to Balinsasayao,” Polinar said.
When the foreigners failed to return, their wives reported them to the police as missing.
The police then conducted an operation to locate the foreigners and found the motorcycles used by the latter prior to the hike.
Polinar said most of those missing have wives in Negros Oriental.
“We have not established yet what they were doing here. We don’t know if they were just tourists or already have families in Negros. Our focus was on the search and rescue operation. We still have to conduct an in-depth investigation about these foreigners,” Polinar said.
“We were hoping all along that these missing foreigners are safe and have not encountered incidents that were detrimental to their safety,” he added.
