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Kamloops  

Busy day for search and rescue

Members of Kamloops Search and Rescue had their work cut out for them Monday, responding to three calls for service.

Early in the afternoon they found a missing man whose vehicle had plunged down a steep embankment; later on they were called out for two other search operations.

The most serious of which took place outside of Kamloops, just west of Tranquille Farm.

“The report that came in was that we had four 20-year-olds that were stranded on a cliff and hanging by their fingertips,” says Search Manager Alan Hobler.

Fortunately the rope rescue teams were just finishing up near Adams Lake and a helicopter was able to move the teams quickly to the next rescue site.

Hobler says when they arrived, no one was hanging by their fingertips, but three girls were stranded on a tiny ledge with two men situated above.

“Basically they lost their nerve; they couldn’t go up, they couldn’t go down, and they were quite edgy,” he says.

“We were still performing the rope rescue long after dark. We did what we call a top down rescue, so we access them from above and then lowered them down.”

The rescue operation itself lasted about three hours.

No one was seriously injured, but one girl is said to have possibly suffered a fractured hand or sprained wrist.

The other rescue involved four overdue campers who were reported missing when they failed to show up to work Monday.

The group had not spoken of a specific destination, so the search area was roughly 100 square kilometres.

Hobler says it turns out the group had decided to camp another night and eventually made their way out on their own.

Unfortunately this cost the search and rescue team about 15 hours in wasted man-hours, according to Hobler.



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