Five Italian hikers were rescued from a remote area in Alaska after visiting a popular adventure destination site, an abandoned bus featured in the book and subsequent movie, “Into the Wild,” according to multiple reports.
One of the Italian men was suffering from frostbite by the time of the rescue on Saturday, Feb. 22. According to the Associated Press, Alaskan troopers found the five individuals had set up camp 13 miles from the trailhead. They had set up the makeshift camp after their visit to the bus on the Stampede Trail near the town of Healy.
The Italian hiker who suffered frostbite to his feet was taken to Fairbanks for treatment, according to Tim DeSpain, the Alaska State Trooper spokesman. DeSpain said other injuries that the frostbitten hiker had sustained were not life-threatening. The other Italian tourists were uninjured and were picked up by friends who lived in Healy, according to the news outlet.
The hiker’s made a call for help through a satellite-based emergency device, according to the news outlet. The device then notified the International Emergency Response Coordination Center that there is a medical emergency. Once the Coordination Center received the emergency notification, the rescue team was alerted, who then set out to rescue the hikers via snowmobile.
As mentioned previously, the bus has become a popular adventure’s destination because of a book published by Jon Krakauer, “Into the Wild,” and a subsequent movie made in 2007 of the same name. Both fueled a lingering mystique about a young idealist, Christopher McCandless, who met his death from starvation in the bus, which is about 10 miles north of the entrance to Denali National Park and Preserve.
This rescue was the most recent incident involving the abandoned bus, according to the news outlet. There have been several other instances of people trekking or attempting to reach the dilapidated bus. For example, in July 2019, a 24-year-old woman from Belarus died after trying to reach the abandoned bus with her husband. Veramika Maikamava, the 24-year-old newlywed woman, was swept away while trying to cross the Teklanika River, according to CNN. Her husband, Piotr Markielau, called the state troopers for help, but by the time the authorities arrived to rescue them, Maikamava had died.
Back in 2013, three German hikers also trying to reach the bus but got stuck after determining that the river they had to cross was impassable. Authorities subsequently rescued them, the Associated Press reported.
Families of the injured and deceased who tried to reach the bus have called for a bridge to be constructed over the Taklanika River. The torrential river had claimed several lives, according to the Associated Press. Mayor Clay Walker said that the construction of a bridge would result in more people trying to reach the bus. He believes that the idea of a bridge would give adventurers a false sense of security. He thinks a better solution is to remove the bus altogether.
