After being released from hospital on Thursday evening, the rescued Dutch holiday maker Mary-Anne Goossens has been staying at a Costa Del Sol hotel (pictured above with her children), to relax and recover from her ordeal. She is reported to have lost 10kg of weight during her 18 days trapped on the Rio Chillar and has been told by her doctors to only take a liquid diet for the first 48 hours.
The family have thanked the people of Nerja for their help and support during the search for Mary-Anne and are apparently planning to re-name their pet dog “Nerja” as a tribute.
Mary-Anne is not giving any interviews at present and is shortly to return to Holland soon, but her son says that she does plan to visit Spain again in the future.
Background
Mary-Anne told her rescuers that she was trying to walk up the river to return to Frigiliana and got into difficulties when she realised she was lost, in this very rugged area. She survived by drinking the river water and eating plants.
Three walkers found Mary-Anne whilst out walking the Rio Chillar early on Wednesday morning and called the 112 emergency services at 7:50am.
Hikers familiar with the area have commented that the rescue will have been difficult, given the nature of the terrain.
Ms Goossens arrived in Malaga on 15 June to spend ten days on holiday and went to Nerja the next day, where she checked in to the Hotel Bajamar and sent a text message to her family. Since sending that message she was not in contact again with her family, her mobile phone has remained off and she did not make use of her bank cards or slept in her hotel, even though her luggage was still in the room she reserved.
The last know sighting, until the rescue, of the missing Dutch tourist was in Frigiliana on Friday the 17th of June, after having been dropped off there by taxi.
The Guardia Civil conducted a search of the surrounding area with dogs and helicopters, but found no trace. A court order was obtained to check the location of her mobile phone by tracing its signal, but this did not yield any new information.
Bookmark Or Email This Page
