A Japanese mountaineer who went missing last week while scaling a mountain in Indonesia's North Sumatra Province was found alive at the bottom of a 300-meter ravine Saturday, a local search and rescue official said.
According to local Japanese consular officials, Kosei Yamada, 39, from Saitama Prefecture, was reported missing Wednesday after setting off on a solo climb of the 2,212-meter Mount Sibayak, about 50 km southwest of the provincial capital, Medan.
Dedi Hamdani, a spokesman at Medan's search and rescue office, confirmed that Yamada had been discovered in the ravine. "He fractured his right leg and left hand," Hamdani said, adding Yamada appeared highly fatigued but was fully conscious.
Members of the rescue team are staying by Yamada's side and plan to transport him off Mount Sibayak on Sunday. Heavy fog in the area made it too perilous to mount an immediate evacuation, according to Hamdani.
A search was launched Thursday after staff at the climbing post and a hotel where Yamada was staying nearby reported that he had not returned. Yamada checked into the hotel Tuesday and was supposed to check out the following day.