Penticton search crews answer flurry of calls over long weekend

Volunteers with Penticton search and rescue were kept busy over the Labour Day long weekend responding to five rescues.

Penticton and District Search and Rescue manager Kelvin Hall said the first call came Friday morning, Sept. 4, with B.C. Ambulance asking for help evacuating a seriously injured paraglider from the mountains near Hedley. The search and rescue team’s long-line helicopter team was dispatched along with a ground crew.

A B.C. Emergency Health Services helicopter team was also dispatched to the scene, where search and rescue personnel found the injured person, provided basic first aid, and got them ready to be airlifted to Kelowna General Hospital.

Three more rescues were made on Saturday with both air and ground units deployed, he said.

The first call was to rescue an injured ATV rider in the Tulameen area around 11:30 a.m. on Saturday. That call was followed by a second one to rescue another ATV rider in the Bear Creek area.

Then RCMP contacted search and rescue to investigate a vehicle collision on Highway 97 south of Penticton. The returning search and rescue helicopter was able to locate the vehicle, which had no occupants inside.

On Monday, a crew rescued two hikers suffering from hypothermia in the Matriarch Mountain area in Cathedral Provincial Park. The hikers had run out of supplies and had turned on their distress beacon.

Penticton Search and Rescue has been called out 55 times so far this year, which is above average.

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