Missing NIE student was lost in Cambodia mountain for a week before he was found

National Institute of Education student Sanjay Radakrishna, 26, who went missing in Cambodia last week, survived for about a week in the mountain without food. -- PHOTO: SANJAY RADAKRISHNA/FACEBOOK
National Institute of Education student Sanjay Radakrishna, 26, who went missing in Cambodia last week, survived for about a week in the mountain without food. -- PHOTO: SANJAY RADAKRISHNA/FACEBOOK

SINGAPORE - National Institute of Education student Sanjay Radakrishna, 26, who went missing in Cambodia last week, survived for about a week in the mountain without food.

What was supposed to be a simple day trip up the mountain took a turn for the worst when he slid off a wet path on his way down Phnom Aural in Kampong Speu.

After the fall, he got lost in a forested area because the battery of his mobile phone went flat and he could not access its GPS function to figure out which direction to walk. To find his way down the mountain, he followed the path of a waterfall and walked west, in the direction of the sunset.

Every night, he slept on wet ground, under rocks and in caves.

As he had no change of clothes, he resorted to sleeping in his graduation gown, which he had brought up the mountain with him to take photographs in it.

He drank water from the waterfall but went without food because he had eaten the only biscuits he had at the summit of the mountain.

Along the way, he sustained many abrasions, cuts and a blow to the head from a tree branch.

When he was finally found on Sunday, his first morsel of food was an unripe banana from a Cambodian villager.

Mr Sanjay said: "I tried to keep positive throughout the seven days. I had hope and belief that I would be all right. I thought of a lot of inspirational stories that I had heard of before. Everything happens for a reason, and the key was to keep calm and just keep moving. There was no point panicking, crying or screaming because no one was there to help me."

cherylw@sph.com.sg

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