madeira mountain hiking
© Mika Volkmann/Getty
This incident occurred in November 2025. We're only posting it now because we missed it at the time.

The body of a missing 31-year-old Polish tourist has been found on the Portuguese island of Madeira.

Authorities confirmed the man from Poznań was discovered on Sunday in a steep, wooded area about 500 meters from a hiking trail near Levada dos Tornos in northern Madeira.

Police said the location was "difficult to access." The man had been missing since November 2 after setting out alone toward Pico Ruivo, the island's highest peak at 1,862 meters.

Five Portuguese security agencies took part in the week-long search, which was hampered by poor weather and rough terrain.

Later, the services said that there was no evidence of third-party involvement in the man's death, adding that he died as a result of a tragic accident.

The case adds to a pattern of disappearances in Madeira's mountains.

In the past five years, four young foreign hikers have disappeared without a trace - three of whom vanished between 2020 and 2021 - on the island's trails, Portuguese news outlet Noticias ao Minuto reported.

One of those missing was Polish ultramarathon runner Michał Kozek, who vanished while on holiday with his family in 2021.