Hiker, 64, Found Alive After Screaming for Help. Why Authorities Say She’d Previously Been ‘Undetectable’
“After some bushwhacking, the party located the missing woman who was showing signs of hypothermia and dehydration,” Coast Guard officials said
A 64-year-old hiker missing in Oregon’s Shore Acres State Park was found alive over the weekend, authorities said.
The U.S. Coast Guard said in a news release that the hiker had not been seen since Friday, Dec. 6, after she got separated from a party she was foraging with.
The maritime security branch said that watchstanders at Sector Columbia River were called by the Oregon State Police, who were looking for assistance in finding the woman “due to nightfall, rugged terrain, and the individual’s lack of survival gear.”
A helicopter from Air Station North Bend was summoned to the area on the evening of Dec. 6. Despite using thermal imagery, the chopper’s crew couldn’t detect anyone and returned to the base, officials said.
Responders from various agencies, including the Coast Guard, the Coos County Sheriff’s Office, Oregon State Police and Oregon Department of Emergency Management, conducted a combination of air and ground searches on Saturday, Dec. 7, but their efforts were also unsuccessful.
Then, on Sunday, Dec. 8, around 12:30 p.m. local time, members of a ground party heard what sounded like shouting from a remote part of the park.
“After some bushwhacking, the party located the missing woman who was showing signs of hypothermia and dehydration,” read the Coast Guard’s news release.
The ground party created a fire to warm the woman. As seen in video footage, a Coast Guard helicopter flight crew was later brought in and deployed a rescue swimmer, who then placed the woman in a hypothermic bag and set up a hoist.
The woman was lifted into the helicopter and transported to Bay Area Hospital in North Bend where she was then transferred to emergency medical services.
“It was later determined that the woman had sought shelter from underneath a log, and, therefore, was undetectable on the FLIR [forward looking infrared] camera,” the Coast Guard said. “However, the woman began shouting for help after hearing the Coast Guard helicopters flying overhead, which eventually led the ground party to her.”
In total, four partner agencies, four Coast Guard flight crews, a sheriff’s department aircraft, and several ground search parties collaborated to find the woman, said the Coast Guard.
“The Coast Guard and our partner agencies here on the Oregon Coast routinely train together to ensure we can execute coordinated search and rescue missions whenever we’re called upon,” Cmdr. Jay Kircher, an operations officer and one of the helicopter pilots at Coast Guard Air Station North Bend, said in a statement. “It’s fantastic to see this teamwork in action and produce a successful outcome.”