Orion Vietnam’s Facebook post on April 21 shows Choco Pie included in a survival kit, after a Vietnamese student reportedly survived 37 hours stranded in the mountains by eating the snack. Captured from Facebook
A college student stranded in the mountains of Vietnam reportedly survived for 37 hours on just Orion Choco Pies. The 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 1:40 p.m. About 20 minutes into the descent, Nguyen, who had little hiking experience, became separated from the group while resting.
Local media describes 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 6 p.m., 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 7:15 a.m. on April 21, two days after he disappeared.
Despite his exhaustion, Nguyen was reportedly in relatively stable condition.
People pray for peace and good fortune for the year at a temple in Hanoi, Vietnam, Jan. 1. A box of Orion Choco Pie bearing the Vietnamese word "Tinh," meaning affection or emotional bond, is placed on the altar as an offering. Korea Times photo by Huh Gyeong-ju
As news of Nguyen’s rescue spread, Orion — maker of the Choco Pie — found itself at the center of amused online reactions. Social media users joked that hikers should pack Choco Pies when heading into the mountains, while others suggested adding the snack to emergency survival kits.
As the story circulated on social media, Orion Vietnam visited Nguyen on April 24 as he recovered and gave him six boxes of its snacks, including its new strawberry-flavored Choco Pie, custard cakes and crackers.
On April 21, ahead of the visit, the company uploaded a promotional post on its official Facebook page celebrating Nguyen’s safe return. The image showed a survival kit containing bottled water, a compass, emergency medicine and a Choco Pie, alongside the message, "Sometimes a small cake becomes a lucky Plan B."
Source: Korea Times News
