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Ill-prepared hikers rescued

A pair of young hikers found themselves lost and unprepared on a hike in West Vancouver Friday night and had to be rescued. 

Ontario student Yuhan Li, 20, and his 21-year-old companion found the connection from Nelson Creek Trail to Eagle Bluffs steeper than they thought, and night began to fall. 

"It was getting foggy and pretty cold, and we ran out of water," Li told CTV News.

They realized they weren't prepared and called 911 just before 10 p.m.

West Vancouver Police called North Shore Rescue, who found and saved the pair five hours later. 

"They weren't really prepared to stay out overnight if they had to. They obviously weren't prepared for the darkness and didn’t anticipate the hike was going to take them so long," said search manager Simon Jackson.

He said that the hikers made the right call phoning for help considering they were not prepared, but urges all hikers to be smart and bring provisions in case of emergencies while on the trails. 

"The worst thing would've been to carry on and lose the trail completely. And that could've gotten them in some dangerous terrain and made it a lot more difficult for us to find them," Jackson said.

Li is grateful to the rescuers. 

"I must thank them for maybe saving our lives and we weren't feeling good on the mountain."



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