Missing Korean hiker found in Mountain Province

LA TRINIDAD, Philippines – Rescuers found a Korean hiker in a remote village in Barlig, Mountain Province a week after she went missing along the boundaries of Mountain Province and Ifugao.

 

Choi Sun Kyu, 56, was found by rescuers from the military, disaster response teams, policemen and other civilian volunteers at around 11:40 Tuesday morning along a creek line after a week of searching.

 

Edward Chumawar, Mountain Province PDRRMC officer, said they immediately brought Choi to the nearest highway, about a three-hour hike, and rushed him to Bontoc, the province’s capital because he was very weak.

 

Choi reportedly arrived in Barlig on June 7 and checked in at the Halfway Inn and Restaurant in the center of town. 

 

He reportedly checked out two days later and told the hotel’s owner that he was heading to Banaue, Ifugao to see the world-renowed Battad Rice Terraces.  

 

Miguel Lagkio, a resident of Barlig, said he saw Choi heading towards Barangay Pula in Banaue on the morning of June 9 

 

Battad is around a day's hike from Barangay Pula.

 

A police officer was able to contact the Korean hiker on June 13. Choi reportedly hinted he was in a location with pine trees and was very weak.

 

The next morning, the Barlig town police received a report from the Korean Embassy informing them that the hiker was alive and on a big rock in the mountains.