The search for a British teenager who disappeared near Romania’s famed Dracula’s Castle has stalled, with rescuers saying their latest effort in the mountains failed to uncover any trace of him.
George Smyth, an 18-year-old tourist from the UK, was last seen on Nov. 23, 2025, while hiking alone through thick woodland in Transylvania’s Bucegi Mountains.
Authorities recently mounted a renewed search after melting snow opened up parts of the terrain that had been inaccessible for months, but the operation did not produce any new leads in Smyth’s disappearance.
“Unfortunately, as a result of the operation, no clues or elements were identified that would lead to finding the missing young man,” a spokesperson for the local mountain rescue service Salvamont Brasov said, according to BBC News.
Rescue officials said two or three narrow sections of the mountain remain covered in snow, and teams plan to return to those areas in the coming weeks once conditions allow.
Officials have also renewed their public appeal, asking hikers and visitors in the area to remain alert for anything that could assist the investigation.
“Please pay close attention to the route and its surroundings, and contact us immediately if you notice objects, tracks, or any other elements that may be connected to the missing person or that could help identify the area they may be in,” the spokesperson said.
Smyth disappeared while making his way toward Bran Castle, widely known as Dracula’s Castle and associated with Count Dracula, the fictional title character in Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel “Dracula.”
His last known location was previously described as a “very isolated and hard-to-access mountain area” by rescue services.
Smyth left his accommodation at the University of Bristol in southwest England without telling his family before going on his solo hike in Romania.
He made a “distressing call” to emergency services in Romania shortly before disappearing, frantically telling operators he was exhausted, hypothermic, and unsure of his location, his mom previously told the Times of London.
Smyth’s family said in January they had come to accept he had died.
“When the mountains that took him are ready to let go, George will be found, and we will bring him home to say goodbye,” they said at the time.
