A British teen has gone missing during a solo hike near Dracula’s Castle — with his final call to emergency services saying that he was suffering from hypothermia and exhaustion.
George Smyth, 18, was last heard from on Nov. 23 while hiking through the dense forests of Romania’s Bucegi Mountains and heading toward the village of Bran, home to Bran Castle, widely associated with the Dracula legend, the Times reported.
While trekking alone, the University of Bristol student made a distress call to mountain rescue, frantically telling operators that he was exhausted, hypothermic, and unsure of his location.
Despite days of searching, rescuers were unable to locate him, only discovering his rucksack with supplies in the area where he’d phoned for help.
The teen’s mother, Jo Smyth, described her son as “a sporty and strong young man,” who is known to travel a lot with his family and friends, but said this trip was different.
“He left his university in the United Kingdom on Sunday, without telling us, to go hiking alone,” she told the Times.
“His phone last had signal in a remote mountain area. He made a distressing call to 112 [Romania’s emergency line] on Sunday evening,” the worried mother said.
“I flew to Romania immediately, and we are trying to support the search teams as best we can.”
Rescue teams believe the teen started his hike from the resort town of Poiana Brasov and ended up roughly 10 to 15 miles away in the Tiganesti Valley when he called for help — the same area where his belongings were discovered.
Poiana Brasov and Bran are connected by extensive forest trails that ascend sharply into alpine areas, which can become particularly hazardous when temperatures drop.
Depending on exactly where he was, he still faced another 12 to 19 miles of hiking to reach Bran Castle.
Since Smyth’s disappearance, search crews have faced constant setbacks due to severe weather and heavy snow.
“Unfortunately, at the moment, the weather forecast for the next few days is an unfavorable one to resolve this case,” the Zarnesti Local Public Mountain Rescue Service wrote on Facebook.
Rescue workers noted that in some of the areas they’ve been searching, snow often piles up to over six feet deep, the Times reported.
The search team said they have deployed a Black Hawk helicopter to access remote parts of the mountains, along with sniffer dogs and a drone with thermal imaging.
Winter in the Bucegi Mountains is extremely dangerous, with sudden weather changes, deep snow, icy trails, and unstable snowpacks that can disorient hikers. The mountains’ hidden cliffs or drop-offs have also triggered avalanches, according to Romania-Insider.
During the winter, temperatures typically range from the low to high 30s in the mountains.
Between 2011 and 2020, there were more than 800 rescue calls in the Bucegi Mountains, resulting in 419 injured people and 21 fatalities, according to a study by the University of Timisoara.
In 260 of those cases, hikers suffered exhaustion, fatigue, panic, or disorientation — often leading them to become lost.
The University of Bristol told the Times in a statement that it is “deeply concerned” for Smyth and has been in close contact with his family.
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