Swiftwater Rescue team called in to search for man missing from Beasley
By Kyra Hoggan
Swiftwater Search and Rescue team has now been called out to help find a man missing from the Beasley area since Friday (for original story, click here).
South Columbia SAR president Mike Hudson (and search manager for this incident) said five SAR teams and one Swiftwater team are looking for 21-year-old John Nichols, of Australia.
“We’ve got a few teams out right now, with Swiftwater doing an exploratory search right now,” Hudson said. “It’s too dangerous for our regular search guys in that area right now. We’re working up in Beasley, where Bains Road is, and there’s a waterfall up there.”
Hudson said there’s no specific reason, bar that of simple proximity, to believe the young man is in the river.
“We’re not entirely sure at this point, he was at a farm just up from where the waterfall is,” he said, adding water search is only one of the search focusses at this juncture. “Currently we have five full SAR teams, averaging about three or four members each, and Swiftwater, which has seven members. In all, we’ve got about 21 people on site right now.”
Search started yesterday with Nelson SAR; what Hudson called ‘a hasty search’, or just a quick search of some high-probability areas. Since then, SAR teams have been brought in from Nelson, South Columbia (based in Fruitvale) and Castlegar.
Searching resumed today at 9 a.m., but so far has turned up nothing.
“We’ve been canvassing residents in the area, knocking on doors and speaking to residents. We’ve had one possible sighting early Sunday morning, but it’s probably not a feasible lead at this time,” he said.
A police helicopter has also been brought in to aid in the search.
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