reddit found dead by rangers." title="Linkedin"> Print

Body of British climber to be handed over to family in Sapa

By Anh Minh   June 9, 2016 | 09:30 pm PT
Body of British climber to be handed over to family in Sapa
The location (cirled red) where the body of missing British tourist Aiden Webb was found yesterday, June 9. Photo by VnExpress/SG.
Police officers have reached the body of British backpacker Aiden Webb on Mount Fansipan, a day after he was found dead by rangers.

Speaking to VnExpress, Deputy Chief of Sa Pa District Police Le Anh Dzung said the autopsy will be completed this morning at the site.

They will then use specialized equipment to retrieve the body from a ravine and transport him to the public service cable car, which operates separately from the commercial one. The journey will take an estimated three hours.

According to Dzung, the body of Aiden Webb will be handed over to his family and representatives of the British Embassy in Sapa, the nearest town to the mountain.

Aiden Webb, 22, was reported missing on June 4 when he was attempting to climb Fansipan, Indochina’s highest mountain, in the northwestern province of Lao Cai.

His aunt, Lisa Shaw Webb, raised the alarm via a widely-shared Facebook post, saying he was last seen on Friday on Mount Fansipan in Hoang Lien National Park. His father and uncle had flown into the country to join the search for the 22-year-old.

body-of-british-climber-to-be-handed-over-to-family-in-sapa

Local police were able to access the site this morning. Photo by VnExpress/SG

Webb, who was described as an experienced climber, was travelling in Vietnam with his girlfriend Bluebell Baughan at the time.

On June 6, Baughan revealed in an interview with the press that her boyfriend had been able to alert her via text message that he had slipped and fallen by a waterfall, hurting his knee and arm. Webb also sent her a map of his whereabouts before his phone ran out of battery.

It sparked a wide-scale search operation in Hoang Lien National Park, with the participation of over 100 rangers, police, locals and trained dogs.

A group of Vietnamese also helped by using camera drones to scour the area from a height of 2,800m.

However, authorities said the search became more difficult due to the dense forests and steep terrain.

The operation ended when park rangers discovered Webb's body at the bottom of a deep ravine six days after he was last contacted.

Fansipan, known as "the roof of Indochina", is a popular destination for Vietnamese and overseas trekkers.

This is not the first time an incident involving tourists climbing Fansipan has happened.

In 2001, a 17-year-old British girl fell 150m to her death on the mountain during a school trip to Vietnam.

The previous tragedy occurred in 2013 when a Vietnamese university student named Pham Ngoc Anh, 20, disappeared on his way down from the peak. His body has never been found.

Related news:

> Drones, rescue dogs scour Mount Fansipan in search for missing Brit Aiden Webb

> Body of missing Brit Aiden Webb found on Mount Fansipan

> Scottish judo medalist injured in Vietnam shows more signs of recovery

 
 
go to top