Search teams are taking to the air to try and find two missing fisherman.
(JENNIFER STAHN / iNFOnews.ca)
June 10, 2015 - 11:20 AM
KAMLOOPS - Two men who were planning to go fishing for the day Tuesday, June 9, were left stranded on the side of the road overnight after their truck broke down.
The two men told family they were heading out to fish for the day Tuesday, June 9, but did not return home, leading to search and rescue crews taking to the air to try and locate them Wednesday morning.
Kamloops Search and Rescue search manager Alan Hobler says the men were believed to be headed to Todd Lake, about 15 kilometres southeast of Roche Lake, but are also known to frequent another lake much farther south and closer to Okanagan Lake. The men were not dressed, or equipped, to be out overnight. The older of the two also has a medical condition that requires medicine, which he did not bring with him.
"There's definitely an elevated sense of urgency on this one," Hobler noted.
An RCMP helicopter had been searching the area since early Wednesday morning and Hobler’s crew was called in around 10 a.m. Hobler said RCMP had done a ‘pretty extensive’ search before calling in search and rescue crews. Two Provincial Emergency Program airplanes were being dispatched to the area and ground crews were heading out to set up an incident command post in the area as well.
“There’s hundreds of kilometres of forest service road out there, if not thousands. It’s much more efficient to search from the air right now,” Hobler said, adding RCMP were able to get one cell phone ping around 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, which can help to eliminate some areas.
Temperatures where the men were expected to be got down to 6 Celsius overnight.
The pair were traveling in a rusty 1991 grey Chevy 1500 with a small boat on top. The axle on the truck broke 'not far' from the lake the pair were heading to and family located around noon on Wednesday. They were both in good health.
Search and rescue crews were stood down before making it out to the scene.
To contact a reporter for this story, email Jennifer Stahn at jstahn@infonews.ca or call 250-819-3723. To contact an editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.
— This story was updated at 12:57 p.m., June 10, 2015, to note the pair was found.
News from © iNFOnews, 2015