The abandoned bus became a popular tourist attraction after the filming of the movie 'Into the Wild'
As the BBC notes, the bus became a tourist attraction after the filming of the movie 'Into the Wild' starring Emile Hirsch. However, on the way to the coveted spot, travelers had to ford the Teklanika River, known for its swift current.
A U.S. Army helicopter lifted the rusted vehicle into the air and moved it to a safe location, where it will remain for now. Clay Walker, mayor of Denali Borough, where the national park of the same name is located, called the bus a 'dangerous attraction' in an interview with Reuters, and its removal 'a great relief.'
The bus, manufactured shortly after the war in 1961, was left in the woods by construction workers 50 km from the nearest settlement. Local hunters sometimes stayed overnight in it. In 1992, 24-year-old American student Chris McCandless donated all his money to charity, traveled alone into the Alaskan wilderness, discovered the bus, and settled in it to live away from civilization, in harmony with nature.
According to diary entries, McCandless spent 189 days there. On September 6, 1992, a hunter who stumbled upon the bus found his body. The fugitive from civilization died of starvation or mistakenly ate a poisonous plant.
McCandless's life and death inspired writer Jon Krakauer to create the book 'Into the Wild,' which director Sean Penn turned into a film of the same name. As a result, McCandless's bus became a pilgrimage site for his ideological followers, who despise a life that requires working from nine to five every day, and for adventure seekers.
The problem was that on the way to the coveted spot, travelers had to ford the Teklanika River, known for its swift current. In July of last year, 24-year-old Veronika Maykamava from Belarus was pulled under the water and swept away in front of her husband, who could not save her. It was their honeymoon. Another person drowned in 2010.
In February of this year, five Italian tourists trying to walk to the bus got lost and were found more than twenty kilometers from their destination. One of them suffered severe frostbite. In April, a traveler from Brazil had to be rescued.
In total, from 2009 to 2017, authorities conducted 15 search operations to rescue people who had gotten into trouble trying to reach the bus. Pleas and warnings did not help. Most locals were not thrilled with what was happening.
'I understand how this bus captured the public's imagination. At the same time, the neglected and gradually deteriorating vehicle required costly and dangerous operations, and, more importantly, visits to it cost some people their lives,' said Alaska Commissioner of Natural Resources Corri Feige.
Denali Borough Mayor Clay Walker welcomed the removal of the bus but said he also feels a bit of bitterness because it is 'part of our history.' Authorities have not yet decided what to do with the bus.