Cheshire born explorer who went missing on trip to reach remote tribe spotted 'alive and well'

A British explorer who went missing on an expedition to reach a remote tribe in Papua New Guinea has been "seen alive and well."

Benedict Allen, 57, who was born in Cheshire, has no mobile phone or GPS device with him, and was dropped by helicopter in the remote jungle three weeks ago.

He was hoping to reach the Yaifo, a tribe thought to be one of the last on Earth to have no contact with the outside world.

His friend, BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner told BBC Breakfast:

Mr Gardner, who has joined Mr Allen on some of his expeditions, said he was annoyed with his friend for being irresponsible.

Mr Gardner said it was likely that a helicopter would have to be sent to rescue Mr Allen, because there would be no proper runway for a light aircraft to land.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that tribal chiefs in the area where Mr Allen went missing say he has been sighted near an airstrip and is "fine".

Concerns were raised when Mr Allen, who was expected to begin his journey home at the weekend, failed to make a flight home via Hong Kong.

His wife, Lenka Allen, previously told the Daily Mail that their children - 10-year-old Natalya, Freddie, seven, and two-year-old Beatrice - were asking "When's Daddy coming home?"

She said "everything possible" was going through her head, fearing that he had been bitten by a snake, become lost or contracted an illness.

But she added: "He does know a lot about the jungle."

In a blog post on his website in September, Mr Allen described the Yaifo as "one of the last people on the entire planet who are out of contact with our interconnected world".

"Just like the good old days, I won't be taking a sat phone, GPS or companion. Or anything else much," he wrote.

"Because this is how I do my journeys of exploration. I grow older but no wiser, it seems."