British brothers who went missing on holiday found at top of volcano
The pair missed their flight back to the UK after backpacking for nine weeks.
The sons of a GB News correspondent have been rescued from the top of an Indonesia volcano after going missing for 40 hours.
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.
Their phones died near the top, and the two were stranded, missing their flight home after a nine-week adventure across south-east Asia.
Their mother Katherine Forster was meant to be covering the General Election for GB News on Thursday, but instead experienced the ‘worst day of her life’ when she was told of her children’s plight.
A friend of her sons got hold of her on Thursday morning, telling her that the two had started climbing the volcano at 8.30pm on Tuesday.
Another friend who Matthew and Andrew had met while travelling had already reported them missing to the British Embassy.
An extensive search was deployed, and the boys were discovered in the middle of the night – 40 hours after they set off for their journey.
Katherine said in a thread on X: ’40 hours after they had set off, they were found.
‘Weak but alive. The first rescuer to reach them said they thought they’d be dead. Three dozen search and rescue, police, fire saved their lives.’
Matthew and Andrew had managed to survive using their scout training and skills learnt watching Bear Grylls videos to gather rainwater and build a shelter.
Katherine confirmed that her sons are now on a flight, returning to the UK. She detailed the entire ordeal on X: ‘Yesterday morning I should have been outside No 10 reporting.
‘More importantly, my two eldest sons should have arrived home after a nine- 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.
‘Luckily they’d been in touch with friends going up. And a Swedish friend, Sarah, who they’d met in Vietnam had reported them missing to the British Embassy on Wednesday night (BST).
‘Thursday was the worst day of my life. But friends dropped work and 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.’
Despite Matthew and Andrew’s survival skills, Katherine stressed that they were not ‘prepared’ and should have travelled up the volcano with a guide.
She added: ‘Words have been exchanged. Thank god that’s possible. They are so sorry.’
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