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Monte Matajur: Here Gianpaolo Baggio had an accident while climbing
Photo: imageBROKER/Stefan Auth / imago images/imagebroker
After a seven-day search, mountain rescuers found a missing climber on a ledge in the Italian-Slovenian border area.
31-year-old Gianpaolo Baggio fell while climbing Monte Matajur - and survived a week on the ledge without eating.
Baggio is dehydrated but otherwise healthy apart from minor injuries, reports the Rai television station.
The climber had slipped and fallen on the ledge;
he lost his backpack along with his mobile phone.
And because the ledge was so steep, he could neither climb nor descend.
"I was lucky enough to have a trickle of water nearby," Baggio said in a phone call to the Rai.
"Even though the water was a bit dirty, I drank it." He protected himself from the cold by covering himself with dry leaves.
He is very grateful to his rescuers.
Dozens of emergency services from Italy and Slovenia had been looking for the missing person in the rough terrain for days.
They were on the verge of giving up the search.
They tracked Baggio down by evaluating the radio cell signals from his mobile phone and comparing them with the planned ascent route that Baggio had saved on his computer at home.
Finally, the 31-year-old was discovered by a rescue helicopter team and then recovered.
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