Colombian university director Francisco Piedrahita has been found alive in a Lousiana, U.S., national park after being missing since Saturday.
Piedrahita had been missing for five days since he disappeared on Saturday afternoon after taking a taxi to Jean Lafitte National Park, near New Orleans, to go birdwatching. The taxi driver raised the alarm when the professor did not return after several hours.
His disappearance prompted a large-scale five-day search, involving two search teams and helicopters, with part of the park closed down as search dogs tracked down his scent.
He was said to be disoriented and dehydrated when he was found Wednesday, although apart from that he appears to be in good health.
“Although he [Piedrahita] appears to be a little exhausted, he is coherent and on the way to an area hospital,” said a local official, reported local newspaper The Times-Picayune.
The 65-year-old director of Cali‘s Icesi University had extended his trip to New Orleans in order to visit the park, after originally coming to meet professors of the city’s Tulane University.
