'It's super rare': Hiker missing for 2 weeks in B.C. park found alive
A local hiker who was missing in B.C.'s Garibaldi Provincial Park for two weeks has been found alive.
Daniel Ring was dropped off at the Elfin Lakes trailhead in the park on July 7 and was planning to camp at Rampart Ponds.
Police said Ring failed to return to his pick-up site two days later, on July 9, prompting a search and rescue effort.
Search and rescue crews had been combing through the area ever since to no avail.
Then Thursday afternoon, B.C. Wildfire Service crews responding to reports of smoke near Pitt River made an unusual discovery.
“They saw a man in the area waving them down and so they landed and picked him up. They discovered that he had been missing and gave him a lift to Squamish and turned him over to the ambulance service and the Squamish RCMP,” said Dorthe Jakobsen, a fire information officer, of the Coastal Fire Centre.
The B.C. Wildfire Service won't say who started the blaze, but confirm it was human caused and it remains under investigation.
Search and Rescue crews say they don't typically cover the area he was found.
“It's mountainous forests,” said Landon James, of Squamish Search and Rescue.
“They're quite steep terrain that's not easy to navigate in. And it was really hard for our search teams. And I'm assuming it was pretty hard for him to travel in for the last couple of weeks,” James told CTV News.
The 33-year-old had only planned to be in the park for a few days.
“He had a tarp, a sleeping bag, clothes and a pack. Obviously, 14 days is a little more than he was expecting. So you would have had to conserve those supplies or find fresh water, some food to eat if possible."
James says his team rarely responds to a search of this length and most rescues they respond to are near hiking trails or within cell phone range.
“It's super rare. I'll admit, I was elated, but surprised today when I heard that he was located fine. You know, it's one of those times that you know, we were starting to definitely get a bit discouraged as to whether we would find him and to hear this is definitely amazing,” said James.
BC Emergency Health Services said a paramedic crew was dispatched to the Squamish Airport to assess Ring.
They found he did not have any serious injuries and was not taken to hospital.
Officials said he’s been reunited with his family.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Canada's most wanted fugitive arrested in P.E.I. in connection with Toronto homicide
A suspect in a fatal shooting in Toronto’s east end last summer has been arrested in Charlottetown, just one week after he topped a list of Canada’s most wanted fugitives.
BREAKING Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
Concerns about plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall plexiglass barriers.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Poilievre unrepentant over calling Trudeau 'wacko' as his MPs say Speaker should resign
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Toddler of Phoenix first responder dies after bounce house goes airborne
A two-year-old child died after a strong gust of wind sent the bounce house he was in airborne and into a neighbouring lot in central Arizona, the Pinal County Sheriff's Office said.
Plane overshoots runway at airport in St. John's, N.L., no injuries reported
Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada are headed to St. John's, N.L., after a plane overshot a runway at the city's airport this afternoon.
A teen was found buried in a basement in New York. An engraved ring helped police learn her identity two decades later
For more than two decades, the unknown victim was nicknamed "Midtown Jane Doe" because she was found in the Hell's Kitchen neighbourhood of New York City. But this week, investigators finally revealed her identity.