A missing hiker has been found alive after surviving more than 6 weeks in the Canadian wilderness
A hiker was found alive this week in the remote wilderness of northwestern Canada, where he had been missing for more than six weeks, authorities said.
Sam Benastick was reported missing on October 19 after failing to return from a backpacking trip in Redfern-Kiely Provincial Park, an isolated area known for its alpine tundra and rugged mountain range in the northern Rockies of British Columbia. Two men spotted Benastick on Tuesday on his way to work from a park in Redfern Lake, according to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Realizing that he was lost, they took Benastick to the hospital.
Benastick told police he had been staying in his car for several days at the start of his journey back to the country, before going to a mountain stream and camping there for 10 or 15 days, RCMP said. At that time, the traveler said that he had moved to another place far down the valley and built a camp and shelter in a dry river. Finally, Benastick found his way to the road where he met the crew of Redfern Lake, more than six weeks into his journey.
“Finding Sam alive is a very good result. After all the time he was missing, it was feared that this would not be the result,” said Corporal Madonna Saunderson, spokeswoman for the British Columbia RCMP, in a statement.
Benastick, 20, survived incredibly difficult circumstances. When he was found, the traveler was using two crutches to feed himself and had cut sleep to wrap a cloth around his legs to keep warm, Canadian broadcaster CBC News reported. Temperatures in the park were freezing during his absence, sometimes dropping to 20 degrees Celsius, or -4 degrees Fahrenheit, according to BBC News, a CBS News partner.
“Those are very difficult conditions for anyone to live in, especially [with] Limited supplies and equipment and food,” Prince George Search and Rescue manager Adam Hawkins told the BBC.
Mike Reid, general manager of the inn near Redfern-Kiely Provincial Park where Benastick's family was staying as search efforts continued in October, told CBC News that Benastick was “in critical condition” on Tuesday. But he is expected to recover.
Authorities launched a search for Benastick when he was reported missing, but that search was called off at the end of October, BBC News reported. Police said they intend to gather more information about what happened to the traveler and why he went missing for so long once Benastick's health has improved.
