AP FILE PHOTO
LEGAZPI CITY, Albay—Search-and-rescue teams have found a European mountaineer who had called for help after getting lost and breaking a leg while on a solo climb on Mayon Volcano without seeking permission from local authorities.
Cedric Daep, head of the Albay Public Safety and Emergency Management Office, said Mark Yuchyugaev, said to be a Russian national, was found by two teams of rescuers around 10 a.m. in the Miisi Gulley on the Daraga side of the volcano.
Yuchyugaev, whose nationality was still being verified by the authorities, was expected to arrive in Legazpi City late Wednesday afternoon or early Thursday, Daep said.
Albay Gov. Joey Salceda, head of the Albay Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, dispatched the search teams at 6:30 a.m.
Salceda said one Jerry Bilala, of Daraga, went to the Daraga fire station at around 8 p.m. Tuesday asking assistance for Yuchyugaev, who climbed on the volcano on Sunday.
Bilala told authorities he had gotten a call from Yuchyugaev a few minutes earlier asking for assistance because he had broken a leg and was suffering from the cold at an elevation of some 1,700 meters.
It was still uncertain how the foreigner got to know Bilala.
According to information gathered from Bilala, Yuchyugaev climbed the 2,600-meter-high volcano without a permit from the authorities and without an accredited mountain guide, the PDRRMC said.
This incident happened just 15 days since four European mountaineers and one of their Filipino guides died on the slopes of Mayon on May 7. They were close to the crater of the volcano when it spewed rocks, ash and steam, some of which hits a group of mountain climbers.
The group of mountaineers who perished on May 7 also went up Mayon Volcano without giving notice to the authorities.
Since then, Salceda has declared Mayon Volcano a “no man’s land” and prohibited any and all climbs to Mt. Mayon.