Two brothers who were rescued on top of a volcano in Bali after going missing for 30 hours are sons of a GB News reporter and survived by using their scout training and skills they learned from watching Bear Grylls videos.
Matthew Forster, 22, and his sibling Andrew, 18, from London, had attempted to climb 10,000ft to the summit of Mount Agung to see the sunrise when their phones died near the top.
Their journalist mother Katherine Forster was meant to be covering the general election on Thursday but instead experienced the ‘worst day of her life’ when she was told of her children’s plight.
This morning legendary survivalist Grylls sent the pair a message on X/ Twitter saying he was ‘so glad you made it out! Well done’ alongside two flexed bicep emojis.
The brothers set off at 2.30am on Wednesday for the long trek up the still active volcano in what was supposed to be the perfect culmination of their nine week adventure across south east Asia.
But disaster struck when they were stranded and with the power on both their phones dead they were left unable to call for help.
Instead of being safely on board of their plane back home to Britain, the hikers were lost having not memorised the path back on the descent.
In order to survive they used their scout training and skills they learned by their ‘extensive viewing of Bear Grylls videos’ to build a shelter and gather rainwater.
They were found ‘weak but alive’ 40 hours after they had set off, with a 30-strong rescue team admitting they thought they would be dead.
They are now flying back home with their panicked mother still ‘sick to the stomach’ who says they are ‘beyond lucky to tell the tale’.
The mother-of-three wrote on X/ Twitter: ‘Yesterday morning I should have been outside No 10 reporting. More importantly, my 2 eldest sons should have arrived home after a 9 week adventure across Southeast Asia. But they didn’t.
‘They weren’t on the flight. They’d hiked up 3000m volcano Mt Agung starting 2.30am Wed (8.30pm Tues night BST) to see the sunrise. Phones died near top. I didn’t know.’
By the time a friend of theirs had got hold of her on Thursday morning the brothers had not been heard from for 30 hours.
Luckily they had been in touch with a pal while on the ascent, who alerted they were missing to the British Embassy on Wednesday night.
‘Thursday was the worst day of my life,’ Ms Forster added.
‘But friends dropped work & came round. Made phone calls. Our tech savvy young friends & friends of friends spread the boys’ pics & last known location across social media. The Foreign Office were amazing. Local rescuers scoured the volcano.
‘Then suddenly it was the best day of my life. 40 hours after they’d set off, they were found. Weak but alive. The first rescuer to reach them said they thought they’d be dead. 3 dozen search & rescue, police, fire saved their lives.’
She thanked the Karangasem rescue team and all of those on the ground for saving her sons and ‘all our friends and young people who raised the alarm and spread the word’.
Ms Forster said she had since ‘had words’ with her boys and they ‘weren’t properly prepared and should have been with a guide’.
‘They are beyond lucky to live to tell the tale,’ she said.
‘So, when your mother (or anyone) tells you to explore with a group, people get lost and die, batteries run out etc, don’t say “Mum, we’re not stupid”. Listen. Boys!!’
Coordinator of the Basarnas Karangasem Search and Rescue Post I Gusti Ngurah Eka Wiadnyana said: ‘When we found them, both were in a limp state due to exhaustion.
‘However, both of them could still make their own way down the mountain.’
Karangasem search and rescue personnel and volunteers were dispatched to the scene, where they found an abandoned rental motorcycle near a rarely used hiking trail.
They called the phone number on the bike and the rental shop confirmed it had been taken out by the youngsters.
The owner told officials they were ‘excited’ about going to the top of the volcano.
Head of Basarnas Bali I Nyoman Sidakarya said: ‘From the information of the community and the team, there was a sound of someone screaming for help.
‘At 6.15pm WITA, the location was found, and the tourists were discovered in good health at an altitude of 1,700 metres (5,577 feet) above sea level.
‘They are lucky to have survived. The conditions on the volcano are very dangerous.’
The pair were given first aid and then taken to the Bebandem Police Station for questioning.
Mount Agung is an active volcano and the highest point on Bali at an elevation of 9,944 feet (3,031 meters).
The Balinese Buddhist Hindus considered the mountain to be sacred and traditionally believed it to be the ‘Navel of the World’.
Many temples are built on the slopes of the mountain including the mother temple of Besakih.