As reported by the Provincial Police Headquarters in Wrocław, the elderly woman left home on Sunday afternoon and headed to a nearby forest to pick mushrooms, after which she disappeared.
Junior Insp. Wojciech Jabłoński of the Wrocław Provincial Police Headquarters:
Every year, during the peak mushroom-picking season, police warn people heading into the forest to act responsibly and take care of their own safety; nevertheless, mushroom pickers often go into the forest alone, overestimating their sense of direction.
The same happened last Sunday, when a 74-year-old resident of Polkowice County went mushroom picking. The woman left home a few minutes after 1 p.m.
Ultimately, the 74-year-old was found by... community police officers from Nowogrodziec. The elderly woman had reached Bolesławiec County! Spokesperson: – The officers found the woman more than 16 kilometres from the location where the search operation had originally begun.
The Bolesławiec County Police Headquarters reported on the incident:
Community police officers from Nowogrodziec received information that an elderly woman had approached construction workers at a site in Bolesławiec County. She had spent the night in the forest after getting lost.
Despite the difficulty communicating with the woman—as she is deaf—the officers established that she was being sought by police officers from Polkowice.
Bolesławiec officers add:
Several days earlier, police officers from Kruszyn had also found a missing 65-year-old mushroom picker from Legnica County and transported him to the place where he had left his car.
And they remind people:
Mushroom picker:
- inform your loved ones about your trip to the forest, indicate the area where you will be staying and when you plan to return
- take reflective items or flashlights with you; they will make you more visible at night
- if you take a dog, be sure to keep it on a leash
- do not carry valuables with you to avoid losing them
- for safety reasons, do not enter military training grounds, as there is a risk of encountering unexploded ordnance
- if you bring children or elderly people, do not let them out of your sight
- remember distinctive features of the area and the numbers on boundary posts, which will help you find your way back more quickly
- if someone gets lost, becomes separated from the group and remains in the forest for an extended period, they should call the emergency number 112 and, if possible, report where they are—they should look for a granite boundary post, which is always located in the north-eastern corner of a road intersection (the number shown on the post will allow rescuers to quickly determine the missing person’s location)
- if a missing person finds their own way out, they should immediately notify the services that they no longer need help.
ALSO:
- when going into the forest, secure your vehicle properly, lock the doors and windows, and leave the car in a visible place so it does not become an easy target for thieves
- do not leave valuable items in the vehicle, such as navigation equipment, a laptop, mobile phone, handbag, wallet or documents
- remember that motor vehicles are prohibited in the forest, as is using open fire in forested areas and littering the forest
- do not block entrances to forest roads, as most of them serve as fire access roads.