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Central Fraser Valley Search and Rescue was called out early on Tuesday to help Abbotsford Police in the search for a despondent missing man. The search team located the man in a wooded area in critical condition after a seven-hour search.
Photograph by: submitted APD , for the TIMES
A despondent man who went missing in Abbotsford was found alive but in critical condition by a local search and rescue team after a seven-hour search early on Tuesday.
The 35-year-old Vancouver area man was located unconscious in a wooded embankment near the intersection of Blueridge Drive and Blue Jay Street by Central Fraser Valley Search and Rescue at 7 a.m., said Const. Ian MacDonald.
The search started after APD were contacted at 11:30 p.m. on Monday by one of the man's friends, said MacDonald.
The friend said he had received a call from the missing man who said he was in Abbotsford, distraught and in possession of a quantity of pills.
Police managed contact the man over his cell phone, which was used along with a signal tower to determine his approximate location.
CFVSR and officers then spent the night combing wooded and green areas in a two-kilometre radius around the Townline Road and Blueridge Drive area, said MacDonald.
When located, the man was breathing but not responsive and suffering from hypothermia and a suspected overdose.
The help of CFVSR and search and rescue members called in from Mission and Ridge Meadows was critically important, added MacDonald.
"They were incredible. We would not have found this individual without their assistance," he said.
"The CFVSR is a valuable asset that is trained and can muster the necessary resources when time makes the difference between life and death."
Lee Holeczek, CFVSR search manager, said 16 members of the volunteer team responded to the call from Abbotsford Police at 1:30 a.m.
An additional six members from Mission and Ridge Meadows search and rescue were called out at 5 a.m. to bolster the operation, said Holeczek.
"We searched throughout the night and just after sunrise located the subject."
The team was relieved to find the missing man, said an exhausted Holeczek on Tuesday morning.
The efforts made by the volunteer force are particularly rewarding in situations like these, he said.
"The motivation is nights like this, where we can find the subject alive and get them to safety."
