*** SAR Team Rescues Lost Salal Cutter ***

Date: Thu, 05 Feb 1998 21:59:44 -0800
From: Mike Hannah <mike_hannah@sunshine.net>
To: sarinfo@istar.ca
Subject: Sunshine Coast SAR Team Rescues Lost Salal Cutter

The Sunshine Coast SAR TEAM was called out at 0100 hrs on the 
30th of January to search for a missing elderly man who had gone off to 
pick salal early on the morning of Jan. 29th. No one knew where he had 
gone, however the team had been given several locations of his favorite
picking spots. The evening was wet and cold, The team was faced with 
the task of searching from his vehicle first over an area extending from 
one end of the Sunshine Coast to the other!

With teams dispatched on a massive road search. We lucked out and found
the vehicle by 0230hrs. The teams were then re-grouped. The on-site Teams
started to search the immediate area near the vehicle, yelling the
subjects name. At 0300 hrs as the SAR command post and other teams were
closing in on the site where the vehicle was discovered the radio crackled
out "We have Verbal Contact with the Subject... " By 0400hrs the subject
had been packaged and transported to a road for ambulance pick up.

The Subject was cold, wet and hungry and suffering from mild hypothermia. 
The Subject had become lost and confused as darkness fell and had brusied
his right leg. He made a wise decision and stayed put. The area is rough
with numerous ravines and gullies. He was approximately 500 meters from
his vehicle, however the teams had to cut a trail  through the dense brush
to bring the subject out in the stretcher.

Submitted by Mike Hannah, Sunshine Coast SAR Team.

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