Search for missing Okanagan Mountain Park campers called off

OKANAGAN – A search for whoever left behind a tent and a cooler in Okanagan Mountain Park has been called off.

RCMP were called about the abandoned camping equipment found near the shoreline between Goode’s Creek and Van Hyce Beach on Friday, July 17.

A note left behind said the mystery campers had left July 7 for Divide Lake and return July 13, so police called Penticton and District Search and Rescue, Cpl. Joe Duncan says in a media release.

Search manager Randy Brown says his organization mounted a heavy response to the service request from the RCMP but have concluded its a false alarm.

“We put ground teams in from the water to the the site, we did a two-day search, we brought in experienced trackers, the guys who get down and look for sign. There were no reports of anyone missing, nobody in the hospital. The probability was unlikely," he says.

More likely, Brown says, is someone wandered too far from their gear didn’t bother going back for it, a practise he says can put his search crews in danger and strain resources during a busy time of year.

“It was really rough terrain. We had 19 personnel up there. Any time you deploy there’s the potential for injury, so when people do things like that. You know, they left a note but maybe they would think to call parks after that."

While the ground search is over, Kelowna police say they are “following up on other investigative leads."

To contact the reporter for this story, email John McDonald at jmcdonald@infonews.ca or call 250-808-0143. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.