No menu items!

COSTA RICA'S LEADING ENGLISH LANGUAGE NEWSPAPER

HomeTopicsCrimeCosta Rican gov't and Red Cross suspend search for US hiker believed...

Costa Rican gov’t and Red Cross suspend search for US hiker believed missing in Corcovado Nat’l Park

The Red Cross, Public Security Ministry and Environment Ministry pulled back volunteers and personnel on Tuesday from efforts to find missing U.S. hiker Cody Roman Dial in Corcovado National Park, on the Osa Peninsula. The Red Cross and the Costa Rican government have been searching for the 27-year-old Alaska native since July 23. Dial has been out of contact with his family since July 10, the day of his planned entry into the park.

Representatives from the U.S. Embassy are now in Puerto Jiménez, near the park’s eastern entrance, to take over the search, accompanied by Dial’s father, Roman Dial, a National Geographic explorer and well-known adventure sportsman. Based on Dial’s emails with his father and sightings by local residents, officials suspect that Dial was hiking alone in the park in areas off-limits to tourists. In order to search these areas, the new search-and-rescue team will need to negotiate for permits with the Environment Ministry.

That team will revisit areas mentioned in Dial’s emails and already searched by Red Cross crews, but conflicting information from local residents who claim to have seen Dial have complicated efforts.

“It has gotten really confusing because we have reports from people who believe they’ve seen him on the same day in areas that are kilometers and kilometers apart,” Gilberth Doundi, one of the Red Cross search coordinators, told The Tico Times. “We believe he left and re-entered the park a number of times, but that is really the only thing we are confident about.”

The Red Cross turned up no sign of Dial in their searches except for a possible campsite in Piedras Blancas National Park, northeast of Corcovado. The teams searched rivers, mining tunnels and waterfalls, but saw no other signs of the young hiker. According to Doundi, search-and-rescuers believe it is possible that Dial left the park and may be elsewhere in Costa Rica.

“We are sending out alerts to beaches and other possible tourist areas, we are monitoring his credit cards in case he makes a purchase, and we have alerted immigration officials to watch for him at the borders,” Doundi said.

When The Tico Times contacted Dial’s father for comment, he said he was preparing to enter the park, but he lost a phone signal before he was able to provide more information.

Trending Now

Costa Rica Allows Cryptocurrency Donations for Political Parties

Costa Rica's electoral authorities have approved a groundbreaking shift, letting political parties accept donations in select cryptocurrencies for the first time. This move, led...

Costa Rica Police Investigate Buried Body as Possible Gringo Tico

Police in Costa Rica are checking if a body dug up from a farm belongs to Daniel Francisco Vargas Salas, a 71-year-old man locals...

El Salvador Bans Inclusive Language in Public Schools

El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele has taken another step to reshape the country's education system. On Thursday, he declared a complete ban on what...

Costa Rica Faces Rising Extortion from Informal Lenders, Says UN

A new United Nations study sheds light on the rapid spread of informal lending schemes called "gota a gota" across Costa Rica, where high-interest...

Bank of America Predicts Stable Exchange Rate for Costa Rica

Bank of America has released a fresh analysis of Costa Rica's economy, pointing to steady conditions ahead. The report predicts the dollar exchange rate...

Tragic Blaze at Hotel Oriente Kills Five in Costa Rica Capital

A tragic fire ripped through the Hotel Oriente in central San Jose early this morning, leaving five people dead and sparking questions about building...
spot_img
Costa Rica Coffee Maker Chorreador
Costa Rica Coffee Maker Chorreador
Costa Rica Travel Insurance
Costa Rica Rocking Chait
Costa Rica Travel

Latest News from Costa Rica