A busy Sunday with multiple calls for help had a happy ending when search and rescue teams found a missing Gabriola man safe.
Nanaimo Search and Rescue found resources stretched a bit thin after a rope rescue team was called to help with a motor vehicle accident in the Lake Cowichan region at about 3:30 p.m.
At the same time, NSAR was also tasked for a search to find a man who had gone missing on Gabriola Island, and to look for a missing hiker on Mount Benson.
Carly Trobridge, Nanaimo Search and Rescue president, said in an e-mail that the Mount Benson search was cancelled almost immediately when the subject hiked out on his own.
But in a mutual aid effort, multiple search and rescue technicians from Arrowsmith, Comox Valley, Ladysmith and Nanaimo were already converging on Gabriola along with an estimated 15 NSAR members making their way to the island from other SAR operations, said Ken Neden, search manager from Arrowsmith Search and Rescue, who managed the search on Gabriola for the missing man who has a number of medical issues.
“At about 9:45 p.m., 10 p.m., something like that, Carly with her dogs found the person,” Neden said. “He was on his property as it turns out. We’d had what we figured was a pretty reliable sighting of him on a road at about 3 p.m. … in the end he was basically about 100 metres from where we had set up right in front of the property.”
Cpl. Tammy Douglas, Island District RCMP spokeswoman, confirmed in an RCMP press release that the man was found down an embankment at about 10 p.m.
“Utilizing a search and rescue dog … the missing male was located down an embankment under some bushes where he could not be seen or heard,” Douglas said.
The man was checked over by B.C. Ambulance paramedics and aside from some minor injuries he appeared to be in good health and was reunited with his family.
“He told the guys he was just starting to get a little cold,” Neden said.
Neden said all search and rescue technicians were able to catch the last ferry from Gabriola, which was held in anticipation of the missing man needing to taken to hospital, and were also able to return to their homes that night.
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