Rachael Kimola - Dec 29, 2008 CASTANET:
Search and Rescue in the North Okanagan are wrapping up after a long, cold night. Vernon Search and Rescue were called to Hunter’s Range near Enderby around 11 p.m. Sunday to search for a group of snowmobilers who had not returned when they had said they would. Leigh Pearson, SAR manager, says the five missing men, all Okanagan residents, have made contact and will be coming out of the woods soon. “One of the men managed to make contact with his wife via cell phone Monday morning, so we know they are okay and they insist on making it out of the woods on their own. We are just going to wait on scene until they are out,” says Pearson. He says he believes the five men were snowmobiling when they got stuck in the snow. “It can happen very easily where the tread of the snowmobile gets caught. They tried to gig themselves out, but got exhausted, so they stopped and made contact in the morning. It looks like this is going to be a happy ending.”
Pearson says this is the second time in the last week searches were called out to Hunter’s Range. “At 5 p.m., December 26, the members were called out by the RCMP to search for a lone missing snowmobiler. He was reported missing when he did not return home when scheduled to do so. Members located the male at approximately 9 p.m. He had become stuck in the fresh snow.” He says this has been a record year for Vernon SAR, with 44 searches taking place in 2008. The previous record was 40 searches in 2003.
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