Search for boater continues off Point Petre – SAR teams in force all over Ontario

CFB Trenton’s Search and Rescue (SAR) team from 424 Squadron continues its mission at Lake Ontario today, looking for a New York state man whose sailboat was found Sunday, washed up near Point Petre.

On Monday, a crew rescued a young girl who had been lost overnight in the woods of Northern Ontario.

424 Squadron had been tasked late last night to assist the Ontario Provincial Police in a search for a 10-year-old girl who had become separated from her friend with whom she was picking berries in the vicinity of their camp site near Lavigne, Ontario, a community situated about halfway between Sudbury and North Bay on the North shore of Lake Nipissing.

After searching through the night, the SAR crew spotted the young girl around 8 a.m. Monday sitting at the edge of a bog approximately three kilometers from her family’s camp site. Having walked all night, the girl was so happy to see the SAR Technician who had been hoisted down to rescue her, she hugged him. Once safely aboard the helicopter the young girl was flown to a nearby hospital.

SAR teams were in force throughout Ontario over the weekend.

On Saturday, July 13th at around 1:30 p.m., a CH-146 Griffon helicopter from 424 Squadron was tasked to rescue a person stranded on rapids in the Ottawa River near Pembroke. While enroute to Pembroke, the helicopter call-signed Rescue 491 was advised that the individual in distress had been rescued by the OPP; however, the OPP rescuer had now become stranded himself due to the fast waters.

Rescue 491 hoisted down a Search and Rescue Technician equipped with a rescue sling. Both were safely hoisted out of the rapids and back into the helicopter.  The OPP rescuer was transported directly to Pembroke Regional Hospital for care.

On Sunday, July 14 at 1 p.m., the OPP requested air assistance in
locating a missing elderly woman. She had wandered off into the wooded and swampy area near Tweed. The SAR team aboard a CH-146 Griffon helicopter found the woman standing up to her waist in water in a bog about 1 km from her house. Two Search and Rescue technicians were hoisted down to assist her and the SAR crew airlifted the woman to Belleville General Hospital.

“Search and Rescue (SAR) incidents under the federal SAR mandate are defined as “all aircraft incidents and all marine incidents in waters under federal jurisdiction,” says Capt. Christopher Daniel, 8 Wing Public Affairs Officer. “With the exception of federally owned National Parks, the overall responsibility for land and inland water search and rescue rests with the provinces, territories and municipalities.  The Canadian Forces may, however, provide assistance to land and inland water rescues when possible.”