Search and rescue volunteers are battling bad weather and heavy rainfall in a search for an American journalist who went missing while hiking in a Norwegian national park.
Alec Luhn, a climate journalist from Wisconsin, is an experienced hiker who has completed a number of solo trips in challenging conditions. He was reported missing by his wife Veronika Silchenko on Monday, after he failed to board his flight home.
Silchenko told CNN she last spoke to Luhn on Thursday, as he was setting off on his hike in the Folgefonna National Park in southwest Norway.
“We exchanged a few texts. He told me that he is going to hike and sent me a picture. He looked fine, the weather was fine,” she said. That was the last she heard from him.
Silchenko said that while she is always “a bit worried” when Luhn is out hiking, she was also aware that phone signals could be patchy in the wilderness and she did not become overly concerned until days later.
“I started to worry slightly on Sunday, but then I thought that it’s Norway and it’s totally normal to be out of connection in the mountains, so I (decided to) wait and … do something if he’s not back online on Monday,” she told CNN in a phone interview. “On Monday, we decided that we need to call the services, because he should have gotten out of the park by that time and probably would have been able to find the internet. So we started really panicking.”
The Norwegian Red Cross said on X that a search operation that began on Monday was expanded on Tuesday. It said volunteers and search and rescue dogs were involved.
Ingeborg Thorsland, a spokesperson for the Norwegian Red Cross, told CNN that the operation spanned a large area and that heavy rainfall had made navigation difficult.
“Around 30 volunteers from the Red Cross and other organizations have participated in the operation. The search teams are local and familiar with the terrain, which has proven to be particularly challenging due to difficult conditions and demanding weather,” she said.
Drones had also been used, when weather permitted, she said, and an alpine rescue group was also assisting the search.
CNN has asked the Norwegian police for comment.
Luhn, 38, has worked for outlets including National Geographic, The Guardian, The New York Times and The Atlantic. He is currently based in London, after living in Moscow and Istanbul.
“He is a very kind and loving human being. He loves nature. He dedicated his career to writing about climate change and especially the ice and the Arctic,” Silchenko told CNN.
“He’s very strong and adventurous, and he (is not) a fool. Alec is my favorite person in the world, and I miss him a lot. I would like him to be back as soon as possible,” she said.
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