CAMERON HIGHLANDS: Police believed that the Indian tourist who was reported missing for eight days and found dead near Kampung Atap here yesterday had gone off track.
The man has been identified as Nanda Suresh Nadkarni, 44 from Mumbai, India.
Pahang police chief Datuk Seri Yahaya Othman said that the body, which was found near the border of Pahang and Perak, was brought down by helicopter this morning.
"The disappearance of the man came to light when the hotel management lodged a police report on Sept 24, after the man who was supposed to check out on the same date, failed to do so.
"The management then immediately checked the closed-circuit television camera (CCTV) and found that the man had left the premises on Sept 22," he said in a press conference here, today.
He added that following the report lodged, police then formed a search and rescue team to locate the man.
"Checks by police found that the man had told his friend that he would be going to Gunung Jasar by himself on Sept 22 and he had sent a picture of him at the top of the mountain on the same day but he didn't return to his hotel.
"After five or six days of the search mission, we found that the man had gone astray from the real track or the route that he should have taken to return to the base.
"We believe that the man had taken a more difficult route after the rescue team found his tracks," he said.
He added that the team found the man near the riverbank at 3.40pm yesterday and he was lifeless at that time.
"The rescue team had difficulty in bringing his body out yesterday due to the weather and geography factors and today, at 11.20am, the body was transported out by a helicopter unit.
"The man was taken to the Sultanah Hajjah Kalsom Hospital here for a post-mortem," he said, adding that the man was in the country to attend a conference in Kuala Lumpur on Sept 25.
Yahaya said that the man had arrived in the country on Sept 19 and he had already planned to climb Gunung Jasar.
"His family members have been informed about this incident and his friend has been here since the first day he was reported missing. So his friend will identify the body," he said.