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He was bundled in sleeping bags and a solar blanket; guides brewed him a tea; and after he had sipped some, the doctors gave him an electrolyte solution and high-carbohydrate food.

A porter with the expedition spoke with him in Swahili.

He had been lost for three days and two nights. He had been sent by his family to cut grass for their cattle

“He had been lost for three days and two nights. He had been sent by his family to cut grass for their cattle, so he had a little knife with him. He got lost and had been wandering since,” Dr. Borgundvaag said.

Emmanuel appeared to have walked 40 kilometres in an attempt to find help, without supplies or shelter. The night before he was found, the temperature dropped to -10C.

“If that boy had not been found then, he would be dead for sure. He couldn’t survive another night,” Dr. Borgundvaag said by satellite phone from the base of the mountain.

The terrain on Kilimanjaro is harsh.

“It looks a bit like the moon. There is no vegetation; it is barren, rocks, stone, all lava rock. It is a dormant volcano.”

After about seven hours, the boy was well enough to move and a porter carried him down the mountain to a police station. Officers were working to reunite him with his family in the village of Moshi.

Two days after finding the boy, most of the expedition reached the summit.

However, two of the group did not make it to the peak. One of the climbers became seriously ill with altitude sickness and had to be evacuated.

“There were two doctors in the group and one of us had to stay back. My colleague, Howard, had climbed Kilimanjaro before, so he said he would stay back and look after our sick climber and I would go with the other climbers to the summit,” said Dr. Borgundvaag.