Ami Yogev, an Israeli man missing since Sunday on Mount Olympus in Greece, spoke with his mother that afternoon before contact with him was lost. An Israeli search team from the Magnus rescue company arrived Wednesday to look for him, but he has yet to be found.
His family is now appealing for public donations to keep the search going.
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Israeli hiker Ami Yogev missing on Mount Olympus after guide spotted him at summit with bandaged leg
(Photo: Pit Stock/shutterstock)
“My son, my nieces and Ami’s friend joined the delegation. They are conducting an extremely serious search,” his mother, Shoshi Debi, told ynet and Yedioth Ahronoth. “They found his car in the parking lot with all his belongings inside, a suitcase, bag and computer. He took the easy route up and reached the summit. At the summit, he took a photo, and then contact was lost when I asked whether he had made it. I can see that he read the message.”
‘He didn’t disappear by choice’
According to Debi, a local climbing guide said he saw Yogev at the summit on Sunday with his leg bandaged.
“He said he saw him on Sunday and spoke with him. He saw that his leg was bandaged. He asked if he needed help, and Ami replied that he had nearly fallen, that the injury wasn’t serious and that he didn’t need help, and that he was heading back down. The danger is that for someone who doesn’t know how to trek and climb, it can be really dangerous.”
“I think he slipped, but God knows where and how far,” Debi said. “Nobody has any idea what happened. They can’t find him. They’ve sent up drones and there are dozens of volunteers searching for him, doing everything they can, but so far there’s nothing. I asked them to bring in a canine unit, but they said it was a dangerous area.”
Debi said there was no possibility that her son had disappeared voluntarily.
Mount Olympus
(Photo: Shutterstock)
“There is very expensive equipment in his car. He intended to work there. He bought a new monitor and other very expensive things, including a guitar he loves to play. I wish they would tell me he had chosen to disappear, like the mother and daughter who vanished, but I know him. If he wanted to disconnect, he would have said, ‘Leave me alone,’ and driven away.”
She said the search had reached a critical stage.
“We are in critical minutes. We don’t have much time left. I keep thinking positively and trying to stay optimistic, but it is very, very difficult for me. I have moments when I break down, and I try to stay strong and believe things will turn out well. I take a sedative and sleep for three hours at most. I can’t fall asleep again. I’m begging them just to find something so we know, because right now they haven’t found anything, and it is incredibly frustrating.”
A race against time on Greece’s highest mountain
Mount Olympus in northern Greece is a national park encompassing a vast mountain range with 52 peaks. Its highest point rises 2,917 meters, or about 9,570 feet, above sea level, making it the highest mountain in Greece.
Yogev, 46, from the central Israeli city of Modi’in, traveled abroad without insurance, leaving his mother unable to cover the mounting cost of the search.
“This uncertainty is impossible to bear,” Debi said. “I want people to help me pay for another day of searching, just so we can know what happened. I’m really trying to raise the money. What has been donated so far doesn’t even cover the first three days of the search. I’m begging people to donate more so we can find my son. Every shekel will help us find some kind of lead.”
Yogev’s family has launched a crowdfunding campaign to finance private rescue teams searching for him in the Mount Olympus area.
“A private rescue delegation is on the ground in a race against the clock. Every hour is critical. Please donate,” the family wrote on the campaign page.