Missing person: Leon Ekstrøm Echoldt (22). Last seen in the mountains outside Lucca / near Riccovolto (Italy - Tuscany)
Edit: FOUND! He has made contact with his mother. He is alive and well. Thanks to everyone who shared the information.
Text from his mother:
Leon is missing.
Leon is 22 years old and has traveled alone on a backpacking trip to the mountains outside Lucca.
He was going to an event at Riccovolto, where random people meet and live together in nature.
The problem is that there is now a heat wave and he is not used to such a climate. He updated his family last Sunday and said that he would get away from the mountains before the heat came and that everything was okay then.
After that, we have only seen a picture on Snapchat the same day, where he is alone among some ruins in the shade, with a water bottle and has written the text "survival mode".
Sunday is the last time anyone has heard from him and now he no longer has power on his phone.
We also do not know if he is alone. We have tried to reach people in the area and in the group he was supposed to meet.
It is common to have no phone reception and avoid phones at such events. But due to several factors, this makes the situation a little different:
- It's a heat wave
- He said he should get out of there well in advance before the heat got here
- We don't know anything about water access
- We don't know if he's started walking alone towards civilization
- He's not used to the heat
- He promised to update, but hasn't
- He's had power on his phone all week, but not the last two days.
- We don't know if he's alone
- No one can get hold of anyone else in the area.
- There are packs of wolves and wild boars
It's about 37-38 degrees in the area and no way to cool down.
A public missing person's report has been filed with the police in Norway, but they say they can't do anything and have asked us to contact the embassy in Rome.
The embassy in Rome says they won't do anything until the police in Norway send an international search warrant. They won't do that until many days have passed.
The policeman himself says that as "police" they can't do anything until the Norwegian Criminal Investigation Department gets involved. But as a parent, he would travel to Italy and find out himself. So... if Leon hasn't made a statement by tomorrow, I have to leave to Italy.
The police in Italy are impossible for us in Norway to reach, (Have tried local police, national police, and emergency numbers) but can't get through on any of them, so please if anyone can reach them, do it.
We have sent emails to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the embassy and the Italian Red Cross.
If anyone has information, please contact the Norwegian police at: +4722669050. Refer to case number 17222579