Local searchers help recover body in Malawi

A wicked winter storm was pouring rain when adventurer Gabriel Buchman turned for home after scaling Sapitwa Peak in Malawi.

A dual citizen of France and Brazil, Buchman had kissed his girlfriend, Christina goodbye and headed up the mountain on July 17 ­— the middle of winter in the southern hemisphere.

If he had only taken a pack of matches, Buchman would likely have made it safely home, says one of the Canadian rescuers who helped recover his body.

Buchman had been reported missing for two days after leaving to hike up the mountain, which is located in the landlocked republic sandwiched between Tanzania, Zambia and Mozambique.

On July 22, volunteers with Red Deer-based Canadian International Rescue Organization were called to help search for the missing man. They left on July 27 and arrived on the mountain on July 30.

“(Local teams) had been searching for seven or eight days by the time we got going. They probably had between 20 to 50 guys out a day, locals and the mountain rescue team.”

Members of Red Deer Search and Rescue formed CIRO about two years ago in response to a deadly earthquake in China. Society members had learned that their insurance would not cover them on missions outside of Alberta, said search leader Marcel Schur.

So the society created a new group within its organization to attend international disasters. The group then attempted to get into China to help with the rescue efforts, but got only as far as Hong Kong, where Chinese officials turned them back.

There were no similar glitches when the six-member team from Red Deer, joined by Jacundo Garcia from Argentina, boarded a plane for the 27-hour flight into Malawi.

They set up a search plan immediately upon arriving at the base camp and discussing what had been done so far by other teams there.

On Wednesday, Aug. 5, searchers learned that a local man had found Buchman’s body in a small shelter he had built under a boulder.

He had been overcome by the cold.

From evidence found on the mountain, including photos in Buchman’s camera, the rescuers determined that Buchman had been caught in a storm and became disoriented in heavy fog.

Cold and wet, he had camped on the west face and then headed down the south side, a path that took him in the opposite direction of the cache of dry clothes and other supplies he had placed on its north face.

“He used up all his energy to get out of the situation and it didn’t work,” said Schur.

“His biggest problem was that he had no visibility. He had no GPS, no cellphone, no matches. If he would have had matches, he probably would have had a fire. He had lots of stuff there to make a fire.”

The rescue became a recovery.

CIRO was the second of three teams, including police and porters, to make the five-hour hike up to the site where Buchman’s body lay, about six km from where he had first set out.

The Red Deer crew arrived just before midnight and prepared to spend the night at a nearby hut.

Ironically, the porters had not brought enough food and water for everyone, so people were hungry and suffered energy loss on the trip back, said Schur.

Trip logistics broke down because too many people assumed other people were looking after those details, he said.

Regardless of their personal misery, the teams were able to bring the body back to base camp the next day.

Malawi police conducted an investigation and determined that there was no foul play.

Having arrived at home late on Monday evening, Schur said he and his teammates feel good about the job they did, even though they ended up recovering a body rather than rescuing a living man.

Along with Schur, CIRO members involved in the mission were Jamie Schur, Randi Butler, Adam Beverley, Ashley Johansen and Laurie Patterson.

The group brings with it a variety of technical expertise, including Marcel’s work as a safety consultant and Johansen’s experience as an emergency room nurse.

The Malawi recovery is the biggest international response the team has provided so far, said Schur.

Previously, it had gone to Italy to provide technical support in a search for earthquake victims. However, their instruments are used for finding living people. The group was called off shortly after it got started because officials believed there was no on left alive.

Buchman’s body was returned to Brazil.