British explorer who went missing in Papua New Guinea says he only accepted offer of airlift to safety for sake of his family

The British explorer Benedict Allen, who went missing in Papua New Guinea, has said he didn’t need rescuing last week and was not lost.

In his first broadcast interview since he was airlifted to safety, in a helicopter paid for by the Daily Mail, Allen claimed he only accepted the offer for the sake of his family, who were worried after he failed to meet a planned flight out of the area earlier in the week.

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Speaking in London, before being reunited with his wife, Lenka, and his three young children at the family home in Prague, he said: “I wasn’t expecting to be rescued, I never asked to be rescued, but when it came, for the sake of my family, I thought: I’ve got to do this.”

Before his rescue Allen made a video will for his family. He said: “Perhaps the worst moment of all was when I had to say to the camera: ‘If you don’t find me and you find this footage take it along to the embassy.’ I showed photos of my children.”

He also defended his decision not to take a satellite tracking device against the advice of the man who helped coordinate his rescue, Steven Ballantyne, a Hong Kong-based fixer who has worked with Allen on previous assignments to the area.



Allen said: “I don’t take satellite phones with me, I don’t take a GPS because for me it is all about disappearing into a place.”

He was interviewed by his friend Frank Gardner, the BBC security correspondent, on Radio 4’s Today programme. Gardner said Allen looked “haggard” after recovering from malaria he contracted on the trip.

“I’m not that sharp mentally, but physically I’m bouncing right back. I’ve had malaria five times before,” Allen said.

Frank Gardner (@FrankRGardner) Explorer @benedictallen has just arrived in UK still weak from malaria after Papua N Guinea trek. Our live iview at 0720 on @BBCr4today pic.twitter.com/vQNhlIvtEg

Asked if he needed rescuing, Allen said “no” but then recounted a number of serious mishaps on his solo expedition to locate the Yaifo, one of the few remaining tribes in the world to have virtually no contact with outsiders.

He said: “I didn’t get lost. I always knew exactly where I was. Things began to go wrong. There were massive storms. A vine bridge that was meant to be across a bridge was swept away, so I was slowed down. Then I started to feel the symptoms of malaria. My mosquito net wasn’t functional, my [malaria] tablets were all sodden so I wasn’t able to take the treatment. And then the final straw, I discovered there was a war ahead ... They were fighting ahead and I couldn’t get out.”

Allen said he made his way to a remote airstrip in the hope of getting a plane out of the area. “Then suddenly a helicopter came from nowhere,” he said. But he claimed that if the helicopter had not arrived he could have walked to safety.

Play Video 0:53 Why put your family through this? Explorer Benedict Allen questioned by friend Frank Gardner - video

He said: “On the very day that the helicopter came I was gearing up to try and do a last walk out. In my notebook I thought I was 80-85% likely to be successful. So I hadn’t given up.”

Allen said he was “slightly bewildered” by the interest in his plight. He also said he stood by his decision not to take a satellite phone or tracker.

“For me exploration is not about conquering, it’s not about planting flags, and I know people think I’m some sort of neocolonialist. For me it is not about asserting yourself it is about the opposite. It is about being vulnerable ... to immerse myself. And that means being on a level with the local people and that means not being able to be whisked away whenever you feel like it, because you’re feeling a bit ill. So I didn’t take a phone. But I’m a professional, I’m an expert in survival.”

In future expeditions he said he might take a satellite phone so he could be contacted by his family.

Gardner wished Allen good luck for when he is reunited with his wife. Allen replied: “Yes, I need a good florist.”