A 22-year-old YouTube adventurer who 'enjoyed being alone' in the wilderness froze to death in a freak snowstorm in Sweden after sending a final message to his grandmother.
Storm De Beul, a nature lover, was found dead in the Swedish wilderness of Lapland on October 30. He had spent much of the year hiking solo through the remote Jokkmokk region.
According to the DailyMail, Storm was caught in a blizzard the night before his death.
His final message to his grandmother read: “It's snowing heavily here. But don't worry; I'll survive, you know.”
The young YouTuber also sent a video to his friend in which he showed how the snowfall had filled his shoes and backpack, while the wind battered his tent. “Tonight, it's going to get worse. Jesus Christ,” he said in the video.
According to reports, his friend warned him about the risks, but Storm appeared not to be worried at that point. “He was like that. I don't think I've ever seen him scared,” his father, Bout, was quoted as saying by the Belgian media.
Although it is not clear why Storm left his shelter during the snowstorm, his mother Elisabeth Rademaker believes, the conditions may have left him with no option.
“Trees were uprooted that night. Maybe his tent also blew away and he had no choice but to start walking,” she told DailyMail.
Elisabeth said it was -6C on that night but because of the storm, it felt like -18C.
“His feet and lower legs were frozen. His hands weren't, he might still have had his hand warmers with him,” she said, while adding that he had a broken nose when he was found, suggesting he had fallen.
“He must have suffered for a long time and died alone. I keep imagining his last moments. It devastates me,” Storm's mother said.
Storm was just a day's walk from his car and was headed home on foot, according to the report, when he reached out to emergency services late at night, informing them that he was injured and required assistance.
Due to the severe weather conditions, the authorities could not dispatch assistance. By the time a helicopter was deployed the following day to locate him, it was too late.
Due to the extreme weather conditions, the rescuers were unable to extensively search the site and were only able to find the explorer at some distance from his tent. He had his backpack on him, but it only had his sleeping back and toothbrush inside.
His father has now vowed to return there once the snow has thawed in the spring to search for his son's belongings.
"His videos are a priceless legacy for us. But now his camera is there, somewhere in the snow, full of images from his very last trek. I would love nothing more than to get it back," he told Belgian news site 7sur7.
Storm had amassed over 1,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel, @StormOutdoorsy, and frequently uploaded videos of his camping adventures in remote areas.
