View all newsletters
Sign up for our free email newsletters

Fighting for quality news media in the digital age.

Explorer Benedict Allen thanks Daily Mail’s Sam Greenhill for possibly saving his life by chartering rescue helicopter

By Dominic Ponsford

An British explorer reported missing in Papua New Guinea earlier this month has thanked the Daily Mail for possibly saving his life by chartering a helicopter to rescue him.

Benedict Allen, 57, was reported missing when he failed to arrive at a scheduled speaking engagement in Hong Kong. He was airlifted to safety by the Daily Mail on 16 November.

Last week sister title the Mail on Sunday published an interview with the helicopter pilot questioning whether Allen needed rescuing. He said: “He wouldn’t have been starving. There was water. He was looked after.”

Allen, who travelled without a phone, was planning a jungle trek which would take him between warring tribes on the Pacific island.

When he was picked up he was said to be at the point of setting off to reach the nearest town on foot. This was a plan which his wife Lenka told the Daily Mail was “suicidal”.

The Mail reports that Allen wrote in his expedition notebook when he saw the helicopter: “Whoever God or the powers that be are, I want to hug and kiss them.”

Suffering from Malaria, he questioned whether he would have survived the planned walk.

Content from our partners
MHP Group's 30 To Watch awards for young journalists open for entries
How PA Media is helping newspapers make the digital transition
Publishing on the open web is broken, how generative AI could help fix it

“That walk would have taken me five days. Nobody would walk with me because of the ongoing war there.

“If I’d headed off by myself and been as ill as I was that night, I’d have veered off the path or laid down in the forest with fever. I certainly wouldn’t be here now.

“I’m so grateful to Sam [the Mail’s chief reporter Sam Greenhill, who hired the helicopter that airlifted him to safety] and to you, Linky [wife Lenka].”

Topics in this article :

Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog

Select and enter your email address Weekly insight into the big strategic issues affecting the future of the news industry. Essential reading for media leaders every Thursday. Your morning brew of news about the world of news from Press Gazette and elsewhere in the media. Sent at around 10am UK time. Our weekly does of strategic insight about the future of news media aimed at US readers. A fortnightly update from the front-line of news and advertising. Aimed at marketers and those involved in the advertising industry.
  • Business owner/co-owner
  • CEO
  • COO
  • CFO
  • CTO
  • Chairperson
  • Non-Exec Director
  • Other C-Suite
  • Managing Director
  • President/Partner
  • Senior Executive/SVP or Corporate VP or equivalent
  • Director or equivalent
  • Group or Senior Manager
  • Head of Department/Function
  • Manager
  • Non-manager
  • Retired
  • Other
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
Thank you

Thanks for subscribing.

Websites in our network