the essential
A 22-year-old Belgian was traveling through Swedish Lapland with a simple tent when he was caught in a snowstorm on October 30. He didn't survive. His loved ones share his last moments.
He loved solitude and nature. Storm De Beul, a young 22-year-old Belgian, had gotten into the habit of going on adventures with his backpack, and had recently undertaken to discover Swedish Lapland by bivouacking in his tent. He shared his daily life on a YouTube channel. On October 30, he was about ten kilometers from returning to his car to finish his journey. So he was about to spend his last night in his tent, when a violent snowstorm came.
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“It’s snowing heavily here. But don’t worry, I will survive, you know,” he then wrote to his grandmother, as reported by the Belgian media 7sur7. This will be the last message she will receive from her grandson. A few moments later, he sent a video to a friend: “Tonight the situation is going to get worse. Jesus Christ.” Later that night, he sent a distress signal to the Swedish authorities, indicating that he was injured and needed urgent help.
“It devastates me”
It is almost 2 a.m., but the emergency services cannot help him. The blizzard is too intense and the helicopter cannot take off. It will only be around 10 a.m. that they will be able to go looking for him. They then discovered the young man's lifeless body, quite far from the point where he had sent his distress call. Next to him, his backpack, almost empty, but no trace of his tent, which must certainly have been swallowed up by the snow. “Maybe his tent also flew away and he had no choice but to start walking,” imagines his mother, who was only able to bury her son this Saturday, November 23.
According to her, her son must have wanted to try to return to his vehicle in the face of the power of the storm, but was unable to do so. “It was -6, and because of the storm it even felt like it was -18. His feet and lower legs were frozen. His hands weren't, maybe he had still his hand warmers with him. And since he had broken his nose, it is possible that he fell too. He must have suffered for a long time and died alone. I keep imagining his last moments. devastates me,” she said to the media
