Rescued explorer: I wasn’t lost but may take phone next time
EXPLORER Benedict Allen returned home today after his dramatic jungle rescue — and admitted he may take a satellite phone on future expeditions.
Mr Allen, 57, was airlifted to safety after his family raised the alarm when he went missing while trying to find a tribe in Papua New Guinea.
But speaking today to his friend, BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner, the veteran explorer denied he “got lost”, saying he had just got delayed because of bad weather, disease and a tribal war. Despite recording a video will for his family, he said: “I had been gearing up to do a last walk out. I hadn’t given up.
“I wasn’t expecting to be rescued. I hadn’t asked to be rescued.” He said he never took satellite phones or GPS with him on expeditions, but might consider doing so in the future.
Speaking from his west London home, the father of three told
Radio 4’s Today programme that his anti-malaria tablets had become sodden in torrential rains that made his mosquito net “not functional”, and a vine bridge he had been expecting to cross was swept away. He then discovered a tribal war raging in his path ahead of him and realised he could not get out.
He said: “I did not get lost. I always knew exactly where I was, things just began to go wrong, a very unusual range of things.”
He made his way to the nearest airstrip before trying to get a local plane to come in to fly him out. He was finally rescued after a helicopter paid for by the Daily Mail arrived.
Mr Allen denied the expedition and rescue were a PR stunt.