Before someone goes missing
Risky groups of people who can get lost at any time and anywhere are mainly children, seniors and people with a possible mental disorder, people in an unknown environment, people with impaired orientation and also people who tend to self-harm or escapes. It is good to follow certain prevention principles that are based on the principles described above, ie to require these persons to report their movements and their intentions and to know their regular rituals.
Check mobile phones and other communication and localization aids, that they are always in working order with their batteries charged and that people automatically take them with them when they leave home.
Also check clothing and adjust it to weather or environmental conditions. For people with potential problems, it is advisable to add information to the documents or items they normally wear to facilitate their identification or contact with relatives or acquaintances. For risk groups it is also possible to use electronic motion identifiers.
Without ever wanting to admit it, it is not so difficult to lose your way in an uknown surroundings. This can happen both in the city and in the open terrain. Although there seems to be a very dense infrastructure and areas of forests, meadows and fields are not large, annual statistics of wanted and missing people go to thousands and are alarming.
The reasons why people get lost are different, and apart from cases where people want to get lost intentionally, it is good to stick to a few basic rules that allow us to deal with a sudden crisis situation.
In any case, it is a good idea to prevent these situations, so there are a few tips:
PREVENTION:
CHARGED MOBILE PHONE - it is good to have charged mobile phone with you, not only for long walks, but for example when you go for mushrooms. The mobile phone signal can be located and GPS coordinates determined.
If someone you know has already gone missing, the basic advice is to call the missing person on the phone and if the person does not answer, call their friends. Do not call the missing person many times repeatedly, the mobile phone battery may discharge.
SOMENONE SHOULD ALWAYS KNOW WHERE YOU ARE – tell relatives or friends where you are going and when you are about to return (especially for children). If you live in a common household and leave unexpectedly, you can leave a note on where you have gone and when you will probably return.
MEDICAMENTS, HEALTH AIDS - If you take some medicaments you should take them with you. Your thip or a walk may take longer that you intended.
SUITABLE CLOTHES - the weather can change very fast during the day. Clothing should correspond not only to fashion trends, but also to the environment you are going into. You should wear omfortable shoes, clothing to protect from the sun, wind or rain, etc.
When I get lost
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158 POLICE hotline - If you get lost or if any crisis occurs, the first solution is to call the hotline 158 or the international IRS - 112 number.
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Stay calm. If there is no signal, so you cannot get through to the 158 line or your relatives, do not panic. Take a few deep breaths to calm down. Do not discharge the phone batery by unnecessary long calls. if the person you are calling does not immediately answer the phone, they will call back later. In addition, if you have left a message, your relatives will certainly contact you as soon as they find your missed call.
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Look around before leaving the place, leave some mark - perhaps a monogram made of stones, and then head in the direction where you hear some noise or where you can see lights. If you are lost in hilly terrain, your best choice is almost always to travel downhill. If you come across a stream or river, follow it in the direction the water is running.
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Under no circumstances should you run thoughtlessly from one place to another. Calm down with caution and save energy. Try to get on a road or if there is a dwelling or people nearby, ask for help.
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INJURY, IMMOBILITY – In case of injury, or if you cannot move, try to temporarily treat injuries. Listen carefully for any sound or noises.Calling for help does not need to be continuous; you only exhaust yourself in vain. If you have matches or a lighter, it's good to make a fire. This will alert not only the guardians of the forest, but also people in the area, or an aerial survey of forests, which is carried out preventively in times of fire. You should do this with great caution, not to spread the fire. It is necessary to try to protect yourself against cold, wind and moisture by available means overnight.
- SEARCH INITIATION - It is important to realize and believe that if you do not return home within the specified time, your relatives and friends will surely be looking for you. If they notify the police, a helicopter with a thermal imaging system is usually ready and the grid search teams are sent out to search the terrain. Therefore, do not hide, and if you hear some noise, you need to make some noise, for example by banging trees with a stick. If your relatives or friends do not call the police and call us instead, we usually inform the police about our intervention and consult all the steps with the search department. Specially trained dog (mantrailer) – given an appropriate scent article – has only one task: to find the missing or lost person as quickly as possible. If working in cooperation with the Police and IRS units, a helicopter with thermovision, quadricycles or volunteers and policemen are sent in the direction determined by the MT team. In any case, the cell phone of the lost person is located.
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BELIEVE THAT ALL AVAILABLE MEANS ARE USED IN THESE CASES TO FIND THE MISSING PERSON AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE.