Body of lost hiker found

The body of the Norwegian hiker, who had been lost for a few days, was found during the morning near the Creva dam, not far from Luino. At the moment, there is still no detailed information, but the alarm was raised at about 11 o’clock, when the state police also informed the firemen that the body had been found. The 66-year-old, Svein Johansen, disappeared last Sunday, exactly one week before his body was discovered. On Monday, the alarm was raised after he failed to return from what was assumed to be one of his many outings. The man used to spend about half the year in Luino, “wintering” on the Verbano. He had left his house on foot; neither his bicycle, nor his kayak, which he would paddle out onto the lake, nor his car had been touched.

The investigation is continuing to discover the dynamics and causes that made the man slip into a crag, after he had apparently climbed over the barriers cordoning off a dangerous area.

Initial findings indicate that the man died a few days ago, maybe after hitting his head against the rocks, and lying there, exposed to the low temperatures of the last few days.

Additional information will be necessary to confirm whether or not he had suffered some illness or accident, as suggested already during the first days of searching, which, until today, had been in vain.

Additional confirmation is expected from the post-mortem examination.