So a guy is lost and has phone service? Why didn’t he just call out for help? Never mind the whole issue of not answering unknown numbers. He had service and didn’t use his phone? This whole story is BS.
I sometimes go solo wild camping and I've had a few moments where I've thought "shit, I'm actually in trouble here". My country is small so even in the wilderness you can usually get signal of some sort. But I never called for help, due to a mixture of embarrassment and not wanting to waste time and resources for a problem I created myself. Not including the countless times I've simply gotten lost.
I always got out fine by myself in the end, but I can totally see how people end up in some pretty bad situations or maybe even dying without calling for help.