Elderly man missing for four days found by police drone

An elderly man who was reported missing four days ago was found by a police drone early Thursday morning.

The 73-year-old man surnamed Lau had been missing since the morning of August 6 (Sun) after he left his Yau Lai Estate apartment.

The police Missing Persons Unit had arranged for officers to search for him since receiving a report from his stepdaughter on Monday (Aug 7). They combed through security footage and octopus card records to look for traces of Lau.

The police believe that he went missing after getting out of a vehicle on Pung Loi Road, and they combed through the area to look for him.

On Wednesday evening (Aug 9), the police deployed an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to search for him and detected a heat signature near Pung Loi Road early this morning.

The firefighters were alerted and located Lau in the hillsides near Clearwater Bay Peninsula in a weakened state after going several days without food and water.

He was taken to Tseung Kwan O Hospital for medical attention in a conscious state.

It is understood that Lau had not been in a dispute with family members before going missing, and this was the first time he had gone missing.