Johann Williams has been missing since 13 February. His last known location was the Greek island of Crete, where it is said that he probably intended to summit the 2,000m-high Gingilos mountain in Western Crete. His family has raised criticism over the belated reaction of Crete authorities with regard to Williams’ disappearance, having to call for donations to fund a search operation.
On Monday, the search operation for Williams, which involved a helicopter and drones, was nevertheless made difficult by heavy fog. One of Williams’ sisters compared the difficulty of the search operation under such weather conditions to skiing through heavy fog.
Johann Williams studies in Heidelberg and travels to Luxembourg every second weekend. As an avid trail runner, Johann wished to visit Crete for his training. He has three siblings. His father lives in Rollingen, Mersch. Importantly, people close to the family, including Pascale Schiltz, ex-wife of Williams’ father, are constantly in touch with family and friends in Crete.
The search operation will continue in the following days with search dogs on location. Schiltz states, however, that not all search dogs have the adequate training for every site, as some are trained for mountain terrain, while others are trained for earthquake victims. Other important differences for search dogs include the state of the missing individual as living or deceased.
The family is desperate to know the circumstances of his disappearance. Finding Johann, living or deceased, is their priority.
Johann’s last known location can be narrowed down thanks to him having shared his coordinates with his sister on the afternoon of 13 February. Schiltz explains that Johann was probably not in danger when he shared his coordinates. Additionally, Johann’s last text message was sent to his sister on that same afternoon, stating “Alles bestens” – which translates to “all is well”.
On Monday, an attempt to find traces of Johann Williams in his last known location was unsuccessful due to bad visibility and dangerous terrain. A call for donations initiated by the family gave them the financial leeway to pay for the helicopter on Monday’s search operation.
