‘We’re never giving up hope – if anyone can survive this it’s Matty’.
That’s the determined words of friends of Matthew Hall, the Hull adventurer who has gone missing while walking in the Italian Alps. The search has now entered a fifth day in the mountains around Chiavenna, where the keen and experienced hiker was known to be last exploring.
Matthew, a Quickline Communications engineer was hiking on his own in the region on Tuesday, July 9 when he sent a message to a friend saying he had lost his trail and was stopping to rest. He had checked in to his accommodation, the B&B Ploncher in Chiavenna, a day earlier and, as a keen skier and walker who has explored many peaks and mountain ranges, including the Yorkshire Three Peaks and the Lake District, he asked staff for directions for the best walks.
He wasn’t seen again by the hotel staff and his disappearance was only reported to police by the owner on Saturday, four days later, when he failed to check out on Friday, when he was due to journey to Milan for his UK return flight. His mother Sara Foster, 62, told how he had also sent a photo to a friend, standing near a large cross – which was pinpointed by search and rescue teams as being a look-out point at Daloo, a rural village at 1,075m,
Four sets of search teams being coordinated by Lieutenant De Masi began the search and now, a team of seven longstanding friends of Matt, together with five colleagues from Quickline Communications, have joined forces with search and rescue efforts in Italy, and they are determined to find him and bring him home.
Meanwhile, the 33-year-old’s mother and step-father, Sara and Steve Foster, are due to travel out to Italy today to join the search efforts on the ground. Close friend Robyn Leonard, who has been friends with Matthew since their school days, is keeping in close contact with his mother as well as the group on the ground in Italy.
Her partner Reece Davidson is one of the seven-strong group of pals who immediately flew to the Lombardy region to help find Matthew, which also includes Jacob White, David Wann, Ben Lee, Sam Jackson, Seb Needler and Nick Blowman. She said a man from Switzerland with a high-tech AI-powered drone has now also joined the search, giving friends and family more hope of a positive outcome.
She said: ”Yesterday, a guy from Switzerland came who had a drone. This drone can cover 100 acres in 10 minutes and it did three trips last night. He finished at about 1 o’clock in the morning and was back out this morning at eight.
(Image: Robyn Leonard)
“It’s quite fast at covering a large area of land and then he plugs it into his computer which then narrows down if there’s any bits where he thinks something is there. There’s seven of Matt’s best friends out there and they are still in touch with the police, and they keep going for updates and to help the search team, narrow down areas, and look at routes that Matty might have gone down and what he wouldn’t have gone down.
“Our Matty is a thrill seeker. He just loved anything to do with any sport, hiking or anything like that. So he will be confident too and he gets excited to do anything.
“Because he does everything already, he’s always prepared. We’ve definitely still got hope he’s definitely there. He just needs to give the lads a little bit of help to help him home. That’s all.
(Image: Robyn Leonard)
“I’m assuming he won’t know about all of this that we’re doing for him. But he knows a lot will be there for him every second of the way. If he knows that he’s lost, he knows that the lads are out there looking for him. He’s got a huge back up, he knows that we’re always checking up on him. And I’ve been getting random messages on TikTok from people saying they’re going out there to help.
“The temperature even at night doesn’t drop below 10C and with the trees and rocks up there it’s cooler in the during the day too, so we have that on our side. We’re not losing heart at all, none of us are, we just need to bring him home.”
Fellow friend Danni Louise, is also keeping in touch with the group in Italy while she is in Australia.
She said: “They have had helicopters out for days and now they have someone helping from Wingers – they have AI drone technology that can help find people. They are searching four different possible routes he could have taken. I think the lads’ emotions are very high but they are keeping high spirits and doing amazing. We’re all hoping that he’s just lost and couldn’t make his way back to the trail and is waiting to be rescued.”
A Foreign Office spokesman confirmed it is continuing to support the family.
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