In 2012, Petr Novotny moved to Taiwan as an exchange student. More than a decade later, he’s become famous for finding lost hikers in the country’s dense mountains.
While Novotny has managed to save seven people before they succumbed to the wilderness, he more often finds the bodies of hikers who couldn’t be reached in time. But even by finding the bodies, he’s able to bring closure to families. His fame as Taiwan’s top rescuer led to a CNN story this weekend that follows Novotny into the Taiwanese jungle and shows him at work.
Though Taiwan has long attracted hikers for its gorgeous mountains, there’s been an uptick in lost hikers since 2019, CNN reported. When Taiwan’s search-and-rescue groups can’t find them, Novotny is often contacted directly by families for help. As a trail runner who fell in love with Taiwan’s mountains over a decade earlier, he has become an expert in navigating its steep mountains and deadly valleys.
His fame has spread even farther thanks to his YouTube account, Beast Runners, which now has hundreds of thousands of followers. Novotny’s actual job is running a trail running race with his wife. Despite the personal reward of helping families, Novotny told CNN that he hates the job, but feels like he’s helping people.
“Sometimes I have to convince myself to be brave and keep going,” he told CNN. “I have to always repeat myself, ‘I am helping’.”
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