A young woman who was lost overnight near Ladysmith was found safe by search and rescue volunteers last weekend.
Ladysmith Search and Rescue was activated Saturday, February 13 after emergency responders received a call from a woman lost near Cassidy, north of Ladysmith.
The woman said she was somewhere in the vicinity of Timberlands Road. Her car was located shortly afterwards, and a rescue team led by Search Manager Tim Chadwick began a search.
An employee from a gas plant located on Timberland Road informed the rescue team that he had seen the missing woman, and was shown the area where he had spotted her.
The team was able to follow her tracks as snow fell heavily throughout the evening, and located the lost woman shortly afterwards.
The woman was in medical distress after spending the night in severe winter conditions in the wilderness.
Due to the location and condition of the woman, the Emergency Coordination Centre was contacted to have her extracted by helicopter.
North Shore Search and Rescue sent an AS 365 helicopter hoist stream, along with an ER doctor and a cardiac anesthesiologist.
The woman was then hoisted out of the area and transported to BCEHS at the Nanaimo Airport.
“Thank you to the RCMP and North Shore Rescue for their help and to Mid Island Sno Blazers for extracting our team and saving them from a 90 minutes snowy hike back out,” search manager Patty Abbott said in a statement.
“She was a very lucky woman!”
