Need help right now?
If someone needs immediate help with lost in wilderness, use emergency mode.
Do this nowDraft guidance — professional review pending.
AidNow content is under active review. Always contact emergency services for serious emergencies.
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — You wandered off trail or became separated from your group and do not know how to return.
The essentials if you need to act right now.
Stop. Stay put if safe. Three whistle blasts. Call for help when phone works.
What might I see? Observable signs — no diagnosis required.
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — Trail disappeared, sun setting, group not answering calls.
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — Same terrain looks repeated — you may be walking in circles.
Optional deeper explanation — not required to act.
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — Most lost hikers are within a few kilometres of trail — panic walking makes it worse.
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — Search teams start from your last known point.
Check the scene before you approach.
Civilian-safe actions you can take.
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — Stop. Drink water if you have it. Put on warm layer.
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — Blow whistle three times toward open sky.
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — Write SOS or arrow direction in clearing if you must move for water.
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — Save phone battery — SMS may work when voice does not.
When and how to get professional help.
Injury, no water by second day, or night falling without shelter needs formal search.
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — Stop, signal, survive until found. Navigation back without map and compass is unreliable.
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — Call 112 when signal found on ridge. Share Plus Code or coordinates.
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — Trigger satellite messenger SOS if you carry one.
Dangerous actions, when not to attempt rescue, and common myths.
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — Do NOT run downhill blindly — cliffs and rivers hide below tree line.
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — Do NOT split up further if still with others.
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — Always keep walking until you find a road
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — If someone knows your route, staying put often leads to faster rescue than random walking.
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — Expanding search radius and exhausting before night.
Other scenarios in the same family.
Trapped in cave
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — A person or group is stuck in a cave because of flooding, rockfall, lost passages, or equipment failure.
Confined space
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — A person is stuck inside a tank, silo, pit, manhole, or storage container with limited air and exit.
Mud or quicksand
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — A person is sinking or stuck in deep mud, quicksand, tidal flat, or liquefied soil and cannot free themselves.
Elderly missing
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — An older adult with dementia, confusion, or cognitive impairment has wandered away and cannot be located.
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — Search and rescue is appropriate when overdue on registered trek plan.
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — Injury preventing walkout needs evacuation not continued wandering.
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — Moss always grows on the north side so you can navigate
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — Moss grows on damp sides — unreliable for direction in Indian forests.
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — Walking deeper wrong direction with false confidence.