Mum of rescued Hong Kong teen says his ‘strong willpower’ kept him alive amid 7-day search, but experts call case ‘abnormal’
- Amy Chan, mother of Matthew Tsang, says son recovering in hospital after being lost in country park
- But veteran mountaineer Chung Kin-man, who conquered Everest in 2003, says surviving alone in wilderness for week without equipment very unusual
The mother of a Hong Kong teenager has said her son’s “strong willpower” helped him to survive seven days lost in a country park, but experts have pointed to unanswered questions about the case and called it “abnormal”.
Amy Chan, the mother of 17-year-old Matthew Tsang Hin-chit, on Thursday said she was grateful to everyone who had helped bring her son home safe after he went missing when he left the campus at the Diocesan Boys’ School in Mong Kok on October 4.
“Matthew was lost and stuck in the woods for [seven] days and managed to survive using his strong willpower and drinking water from the stream,” she said.
Drones and AI, 300 people, 4 miles, 7 days: how Hong Kong rescuers found missing teen
The weekend’s typhoon and rainstorm had also left her son “thoroughly soaked and [he] realised he might fall sick if he continued to wear his clothes, so decided to take them off and hide in the bushes to shelter from the rain and wind”, she added.
The seven-day rescue effort to find Matthew involved hundreds of police, firefighters and volunteers, who searched his last known location, Ma On Shan Country Park, and only paused when Typhoon Koinu brought stormy weather to the city over the weekend.
Rescuers deployed drones and artificial intelligence tools in their search, taking more than 10,000 photos to scour the landscape for features not shown on the map, including temporary shelters, water sources and areas with thicker foliage.
Authorities said Matthew was found by firefighters on Wednesday afternoon in undergrowth about 100 metres (328 feet) from a hiking trail near Lo Shue Tin inside the park, with no shirt, trousers or shoes.
His mother expressed her gratitude to everyone who joined the rescue effort, including government officers, volunteers, Diocesan Boy’s School’s pupils and parents, as well as members of the public.
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“I am deeply moved by the warmth and love of [Hong Kong] people through this incident,” she said.
Chan said her son remained at Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital in Chai Wan, and was in stable physical and mental condition.
But some experts found Tsang’s survival unusual and pointed to unanswered questions surrounding the case. Lobo Louie Hung-tak, senior lecturer of health and physical education at the Education University of Hong Kong, said he was particularly surprised the teen could survive in the wild without clothes.
“Even if he was soaked during the downpour, keeping the clothes on would keep his body temperature up,” he said, adding an exposed body would also likely suffer insect bites.
Veteran mountaineer Chung Kin-man, who conquered Everest in 2003, said it was “abnormal” for someone to survive alone in the wilderness for a week without any equipment, describing the whole incident as “a bit strange”.
“When a person stays in a forest without food or shelter and even experiences a No 9 typhoon and black rainstorm alert, he may look very exhausted or even be unable to walk.
“I personally think there is something abnormal. I am not sure if he is really this strong or if there are other reasons. But of course, there have been certain people who could survive for this long or were still alive after drifting at sea for a long time.”
He added: “I am not doubting him, but I think it is not normal.”
People who became lost in mountains should walk towards a summit if it was physically possible, he added.
“You should not walk downwards,” he said. “You should slowly walk upwards as there will usually be trails on the mountain ridge.”
On Thursday, one of Matthew’s schoolmates recalled the entire class “jumped up in excitement” when they found out he was found safe.
Throughout the last week, many students helped spread the news that the student was missing in hopes of contributing to the rescue operation, he added.
Secretary for Education Christine Choi Yuk-lin appealed to the public to give Matthew’s family and classmates “some space” after the ordeal.
“I am very grateful to all the government departments that helped search for the student,” she said. “I completely understand a mother’s desperation in a search for her son.”
