The student’s 37-hour agony on Tam Dao Mountain – sustained by Choco Pies – has boosted the snack’s survival kit status
2-MIN READ2-MINThe Korea TimesPublished: 2:02pm, 28 Apr 2026A college student stranded in the mountains of Vietnam reportedly survived for 37 hours on just Orion Choco Pies. The South Korean snack, already beloved across Vietnam and often exchanged as a gift during the Lunar New Year, is now drawing attention as a survival essential in emergencies.According to Vietnamese news outlet VnExpress, Nguyen Tuan Anh, a 19-year-old student at Dai Nam University, had joined friends for a hike on Tam Dao Mountain north of Hanoi.
The group set out from Vinh Ninh village in Dao Tru commune on April 19 and reached the summit at 1.40pm. About 20 minutes into the descent, Nguyen, who had little hiking experience, became separated from the group while resting.
Local media described Tam Dao Mountain as hazardous terrain, where branching trails and frequent fog can easily leave hikers disoriented. Nguyen soon found himself lost in dense woods, his phone out of signal.
As night fell, he crawled into a rocky crevice beside a stream and waited for help, surviving on the Choco Pies he had brought with him and water from the stream.
When Nguyen failed to return, his friends reported him missing to local police at 6pm, triggering a large-scale search and rescue operation involving hundreds of Vietnamese police officers, soldiers and militia members, who were divided into eight teams. Nguyen was found at 7.15am on April 21, two days after he disappeared.
