German tourists 'missing' in Sweden paddle back to safety
A German family touring south eastern Sweden was surprised on Sunday to find their camp-site teeming with police after a misunderstanding with camping ground staff caused a police search action.
Local police decided to launch a search party for the missing German family on Sunday after they failed to come back from a canoe trip.
“They said they rented their camp site for two weeks but the camping's staff misunderstood and thought they were renting it for two days," Helena Ralmark of police on the southern Skåne county told AFP.
The family of four, two adults and two children, had left the camp site early last week for a canoe trip on lake Immeln.
When the camping site's personnel, who expected them to check out on Wednesday, still had seen no sign of the family on Saturday, they notified police.
Authorities said they did not suspect neither crime nor accident, but still launched a search party around the lake early Sunday.
They also said that Swedish police had been in contact with police in Stralsund, northern Germany, where the family originated from.
"I am really relieved they are back safely," said camping ground manager Maria Nilsson to daily Dagens Nyheter (DN). She had been worried something bad had happened to the family.
The German family told Swedish media upon their return that they had no idea they had been reported missing and had spent their time fishing and enjoying their trip.
"We are very shocked by the whole thing but we are happy that the Swedes take these things so seriously," said the father to Swedish newspaper Expressen.
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Local police decided to launch a search party for the missing German family on Sunday after they failed to come back from a canoe trip.
“They said they rented their camp site for two weeks but the camping's staff misunderstood and thought they were renting it for two days," Helena Ralmark of police on the southern Skåne county told AFP.
The family of four, two adults and two children, had left the camp site early last week for a canoe trip on lake Immeln.
When the camping site's personnel, who expected them to check out on Wednesday, still had seen no sign of the family on Saturday, they notified police.
Authorities said they did not suspect neither crime nor accident, but still launched a search party around the lake early Sunday.
They also said that Swedish police had been in contact with police in Stralsund, northern Germany, where the family originated from.
"I am really relieved they are back safely," said camping ground manager Maria Nilsson to daily Dagens Nyheter (DN). She had been worried something bad had happened to the family.
The German family told Swedish media upon their return that they had no idea they had been reported missing and had spent their time fishing and enjoying their trip.
"We are very shocked by the whole thing but we are happy that the Swedes take these things so seriously," said the father to Swedish newspaper Expressen.
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