A teen girl who was missing for more than two days in Golden Ears Provincial Park has been found “alive and well,” according to Ridge Meadows Search and Rescue.
The good news was confirmed by rescue team member Ryan Smith in an email to CBC shortly after 11 p.m. Thursday night.
In a Friday morning press conference, RCMP Supt. Wendy Mehat confirmed the 16-year-old from Langley, B.C., was found around 9:30 p.m.
She was tired, but unharmed aside for some mosquito bites. After receiving a medical assessment, she returned to her family.
“Esther Wang has been located,” Mehat said Friday. “She’s healthy, she’s happy, she is with family. That’s the best possible outcome for us.”
The news is a relieving end to a days-long, frantic search for the teen, after she became separated from the other three people she was hiking with Tuesday afternoon.
Search across difficult terrain
A helicopter, a drone and teams of rescuers from across the Lower Mainland all helped look for the girl across what rescuers described as difficult terrain.
Smith said Friday that 16 rescue teams were involved in the search.
The teen’s group left a lookout point at about 2:45 p.m. on Tuesday to head back to their campground, and about 15 minutes later, they noticed that the teen was missing.
Police say the group returned to the viewpoint to look for the girl, and when she was not found, the leader returned to the entrance of the trail to have a park ranger call police.
Around 54 hours after going missing, the teen walked out of East Canyon Trail, the same trail she was on when she separated from the group.
Smith praised the teen for her preparedness.
“[She] did take precautions. She did have food and water. She did appear to stop and then think, orientate herself and planned accordingly,” Smith told a news conference Friday, calling her “a very determined young lady.”
He said hikers should carry essential items with them and provide others with a trip plan and a scheduled return time.
Mehat said the teen’s family expressed their gratitude for the work done by search-and-rescue crews and have asked for privacy at this time.
She said authorities have not yet spoken to the girl in depth, but intend to start gathering all the facts.
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