Busy year continues for search and rescue team

Central Okanagan Search and Rescue (COSAR) was called into service Tuesday night for two separate incidents of missing people.

The first call came from the Kelowna RCMP at 8:45 p.m. to help search for an elderly woman with dementia who was last been seen several hours before in downtown Kelowna.

“As the team was mobilizing, word was received that she had been located in Rutland and we were stood down,” a COSAR news release said.

The second call came in 9:50 p.m. when the B.C. Emergency Health Services asked for help to find a man with two dogs who had been involved in a motor vehicle accident along Jackpine Forest Service Road in West Kelowna. He was shaken up and was walking back to town when he got cell service and called 911.

“He was in the early stages of hypothermia and BCEHS was not sure the ambulance could make it up the forest service road,” COSAR stated.

Seven search members responded including the ultra terrain vehicle and medical teams, and it was learned the forest service road had been plowed and was passable in an ambulance.

“About a kilometre up the road, the patient was found standing by an abandon campfire that had been started a few hours ago. The male was checked out and released by BCEHS, and COSAR ensured the male and his dogs got home,” the search group reported.

The incidents were the 102nd and 103rd callouts for 2021 for COSAR.