There’s closure for the family of a missing trail runner near Dillingham Airfield on Oahu’s North Shore.
The body of 40-year-old Are Hjorungnes was recovered on Saturday by a search party that went looking for him.
Are went missing one week ago, since then a group of more than twenty local runners and hikers have spent every day from sun-up to sun-down searching for their friend.
Around 12:30 Saturday, Honolulu Fire Department received a call that runners had spotted the body of missing Norwegian hiker 40-year-old Are Hjorungnes. Close friends and fellow hikers were heartbroken, after spending the last week searching for him.
"Always optimistic we can find him before he’s gone, we looked for many days," said Fred Boll of the Hawaiian Trail & Mountain Club.
Are got lost from his group last Saturday, while they were running in an area known as "Peacock Flats" near Dillingham airfield.
"Spent a lot of time, first thing from 5 a.m. somebody is here to late at night, sun down," said Clement Aleka, who was with the search party.
Hikers who found Are’s body, directed HFD air crew to their location, about 50-yards below the old Dillingham Ranch road – a tricky spot for chopper crews to coordinate.
"(It was) in an area at the bottom of a dry waterfall," said Capt. Earle Kealoha of the Honolulu Fire Department. "From what I could see from my vantage point it’s a sheer drop."
An area quite far from where his running group remembers last seen him.
"Sadness, feeling of relief, but I’m sure it brings closure to the family," Aleka said.
The Hawaiian Trail and Mountain Club, Hawaii Ultra Running Team, UH Engineering colleagues, friends and family never gave up hope they would find him.
"If it hadn’t been for HURT, chances are we still may not have recovered him," Kealoha said.
"Twenty-three volunteers from HTMC happened to be the strongest men we got and the most persistent I guess," Boll said.
Friends say Are’s parents and sister recently traveled to Oahu to help in the search and have been notified his body was found.
See the original article at: KHON2 Local News
