At 11:30 p.m. on April 19, police in Lai Chau Province received news that a British tourist was lost in Hoang Lien National Forest on the border between Lai Chau and Lao Cai provinces. This foreign tourist was in a state of panic, tired and hungry, and his phone was about to run out of battery.
Immediately after receiving the news, the Director of Lai Chau Provincial Police determined that this was a dense forest area while the weather was not good; therefore, police officers necessarily raced against time to promptly rescue the lost man.
Simultaneously, the provincial police forces were directed to review and locate lost tourists. At the same time, the Fire Prevention and Fighting Police Department was assigned to establish a special rescue team consisting of 20 officers and soldiers.
Along with that, Lai Chau Provincial Police leaders directed Tam Duong District Police and Son Binh Commune Police to send 32 soldiers and commune health officers and men to Lao Cai Province to search for the lost UK tourist.
At 8:06 a.m. on April 20, the rescue team of the Fire and Rescue Police Department - Lai Chau Provincial Police found the tourist at the edge of the forest at the top of O Quy Ho pass in Son Binh Commune of Lai Chau Province. He was just tired with many small scratches on his body, and his phone was out of battery.
Rescuers immediately provided drinks and food to tourist Henwood Joseph Thomas, 18 years old, British nationality.
Henwood Joseph Thomas admitted traveling alone into Hoang Lien National Forest to explore on his own from 8:00 a.m. on April 19 and began to get lost at 11:30 p.m. the same day.
At Mr. Thomas's request, the rescue team took him to a hotel in Sa Pa town. After knowing that many people spent the whole night searching for him, Mr. Thomas hugged the police officers and soldiers and expressed his deep thanks.
This tourist also wrote a thank-you letter to express his joy and gratitude for the Vietnamese police force who spent the whole night searching for him. The man said this was his first trip to Vietnam.
