U.S. tourist found dead in Spain nearly 1 month after reported missing – National

Rescuers have found the body of a U.S. tourist who went missing last month in Spain.

Spanish police announced Tuesday that the body of 27-year-old Cole Henderson was found in the Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park after he appeared to have fallen about 200 metres down a mountain, according to NBC News.

Henderson was reported missing on July 14, one day after he was supposed to return to his current home in the Netherlands, police said. He had parked his car in the nearby town of Torla on July 9 before he began his hike of Monte Perdido, the third-highest peak in the Pyrenees mountains.

Police said rescuers found Henderson’s body “in a difficult-to-access area on the north face of Monte Perdido, in the municipality of Bielsa, after a fall of about 200 metres.”

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Rescue workers airlifted Henderson’s body from the location with the help of a crane, according to the New York Times.

They said Henderson “showed no signs compatible with life.”

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The search for Henderson gained media attention after his friends posted pleas for help on social media after being unable to locate him.

His friends had hiked with him in the national park but they claimed that Henderson had decided to hike alone after putting his cellphone on airplane mode to save his battery.


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He was last heard from on July 9, when he sent a text message to his friends around 2 p.m. near Monte Perdido, according to the social media post by his friend Max Senoff.

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Henderson’s friends said they became concerned after Henderson did not show up for a July 13 flight from Spain to Amsterdam, where he worked as an engineer for Dexter Energy, a company that uses artificial intelligence to help renewable energy companies.

Spanish authorities said they deployed teams of search rescuers, canine handlers, search dogs, helicopters and drone pilots to help look for Henderson.

This isn’t the first time a hiker has been found dead in the Spanish national park.

Last June, a 70-year-old British hiker was found dead in the Pyrenees mountains four days after disappearing.

The man was discovered in the mountain range by a rescue team near the Aspe peak in the western Pyrenees.

He was located by three members of the search-and-rescue team, who contacted an air unit, which transferred the man to a nearby mountain refuge, according to the Spanish Guardia Civil.

“We are supporting the family of a British man who died in Spain and are in contact with the local authorities,” a spokesperson for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said at the time, according to the BBC.


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