This past weekend was once again a busy one for the dedicated volunteers of Comox Valley Ground Search and Rescue, with the team responding to two incidents simultaneously.

Just after 8 p.m. Saturday evening, CVGSAR was contacted by the Emergency Co-ordination Centre in Victoria requesting assistance in the search for a missing 66-year-old hiker near Port Alice who had become separated from his hiking partner and failed to rendezvous before nightfall.

A team of five SAR specialists was soon en route to the Yreka mine site west of Port Alice, when a second call came from ECC requesting water rescue specialists to assist the Comox Valley RCMP with a lone, despondent male who had climbed atop the Fifth Street bridge.

While the first team continued north to the search site, boats with swift-water technicians aboard were strategically sited in the Puntledge River, poised to rescue the despondent male had he chosen to enter the water.

Both SAR taskings had positive outcomes. Police and fire department personnel successfully rescued the male subject from his perch above the bridge without the need for a water rescue.

Search conditions at the mine site were hampered through the night by weather and dangerous terrain. At first light, search teams from both Campbell River and Comox SAR, an RCMP canine unit and a helicopter were used to search for the missing man.

At 1 p.m., the subject was located and was transported to Port McNeill hospital for treatment of hypothermia.

CVGSAR team members arrived home early Sunday evening dirty, wet and exhausted after devoting more than 120 man-hours to the search and travelling more than 800 kilometres.

鈥淭his is what we do,鈥� commented CVGSAR search manager Paul Berry. 鈥淥n a dark and stormy night, when the call to serve comes, our members leave the comforts, safety and warmth of their homes, their families and often their jobs to aid others.鈥�

鈥� Comox Valley Ground Search

and Rescue