Latest news with #searchandrescue
Daily Mail
11 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Shock as woman who vanished in Death Valley is found ALIVE nine months later
A woman who mysteriously vanished in California 's sweltering Death Valley has miraculously been found alive nearly nine months after she disappeared. Kelsey Pittman, 33, from North Carolina, was discovered safe in Colorado, authorities announced on Tuesday without providing further details. Pittman was first reported missing by her family after she stopped communicating with them in November 2024, according to the Inyo County Sheriff's Office. On February 9, 2025, police received a tip about a suspicious vehicle abandoned near an area frequented by campers known as 'The Pads' or 'Slab City' just off Highway 190. Police who responded to the scene found Pittman's 2009 Chevrolet HHR, but she was nowhere in sight. 'This led to the initiation of an extensive missing person investigation and search effort,' the sheriff's office said, noting that it coordinated with several law enforcement agencies and employed drones, cadaver dogs and volunteers in the effort. 'Despite exhaustive ground and aerial searches, no additional physical evidence was found at the site,' the sheriff's office said. Authorities declined to provide additional information. 'Out of respect for her privacy and that of her family, no further details will be released,' the statement read. Pittman had last been seen in November 2024 while making contact with law enforcement in Utah, the sheriff's office said. She was known to visit the Las Vegas area. Her mother had stayed in contact with investigators, even visiting the area to help in the initial search.
Daily Mail
12 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Tragedy after mom lost sight of her adorable 18-month-old toddler son in Colorado park
An adorable 18-month-old baby tragically died after going missing on Tuesday afternoon in Silverthorne, Colorado. Serenity Maes, the child's mother, has been left heartbroken after her baby's body was discovered by search and rescue crews at around 5pm. The discovery came after the little boy, Zeldris, was reported missing at 2.53pm by his mother. Maes said Zeldris's father was working a job in Silvethorne, so the family couldn't check into the motel they were staying in until 3pm. Instead of waiting in their car, Maes decided to take Zeldris and her three-year-old son, who has autism, to get some fresh air in the park, Fox 31 reported. When the older son ran off towards a creek, Maes bolted after him. Maes shared that she heard two little cries from her baby, but when she quickly turned around, Zeldris was nowhere to be seen. 'It happened so quick,' Maes said in a post on Facebook. She immediately called the police, and a multi-agency search and rescue mission kicked off. Crews searched the Blue River and surrounding areas for several hours before finding the little boy's body at the area off Willow Way along the Blue River Trail. The area is just west of Blue River Parkway, about eight miles north of Interstate 70. Zeldris's grieving mother wants her baby boy to be remembered as a pure, innocent soul who made everyone's day brighter. Maes said Zeldris was a loving baby who would always give hugs and kisses and was truly her pride and joy. She is a stay-at-home mom, so the two of them did everything together. Maes said that what she'll miss the most about Zeldris is him climbing on top of her every morning. 'Im so heartbroken from this s*** and yall seem to say im not a good parent or this and that when I was trying to keep both of my children safe,' she wrote online. Maes said that what she'll miss the most about Zeldris is him climbing on top of her every morning Town of Silverthorne officials said they were 'heartbroken' to find the child's body. 'Our hearts go out to the family who lost a loved one and to emergency responders who were involved in the incident,' they wrote in a prepared statement on social media. The Summit County Coroner's Office have not yet released the official cause of death.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Climate
- Yahoo
Missing sailor from Quebec found alive off Labrador coast
A missing boater was found in good health Wednesday morning, about 200 kilometres east of Mary's Harbour, Labrador. The 20-foot sailboat was also located. Martin Hurley, acting deputy superintendent of search and rescue coordination at the Maritime Rescue Sub-Centre in St. John's, said the solo sailor was last heard from on Thursday after posting regular updates online. The sailor wasn't hurt, Hurley said, but poor weather conditions damaged some of the boat's electronics and a satellite communications suite on board. "He just became disabled due to weather, which caused some damage to his communications equipment," Hurley said. A Hercules aircraft was deployed from Trenton, Ont., and the Canadian Coast Guard sent vessels to the east coast of Labrador to participate in the search. The sailor, who is from Tadoussac, Que., last stopped in Blanc-Sablon on his way to Greenland. He was transferred to Gander by helicopter. Hurley said the Canadian Coast Guard would like to encourage everyone to consider their personal safety when venturing out on the water. Download our free CBC News app to sign up for push alerts for CBC Newfoundland and Labrador. Sign up for our daily headlines newsletter here. Click here to visit our landing page.
CBC
a day ago
- Climate
- CBC
Missing sailor from Quebec found alive off Labrador coast
A missing boater was found in good health Wednesday morning, about 200 kilometres east of Mary's Harbour, Labrador. The 20-foot sailboat was also located. Martin Hurley, acting deputy superintendent of search and rescue coordination at the Maritime Rescue Sub-Centre in St. John's, said the solo sailor was last heard from on Thursday after posting regular updates online. The sailor wasn't hurt, Hurley said, but poor weather conditions damaged some of the boat's electronics and a satellite communications suite on board. "He just became disabled due to weather, which caused some damage to his communications equipment," Hurley said. A Hercules aircraft was deployed from Trenton, Ont., and the Canadian Coast Guard sent vessels to the east coast of Labrador to participate in the search. The sailor, who is from Tadoussac, Que., last stopped in Blanc-Sablon on his way to Greenland. He was transferred to Gander by helicopter. Hurley said the Canadian Coast Guard would like to encourage everyone to consider their personal safety when venturing out on the water.
Yahoo
a day ago
- General
- Yahoo
Volunteer firefighters missing work to battle roaring wildfire in rural Newfoundland
The mayor of a rural Newfoundland town is among the volunteer firefighters missing work to battle a raging wildfire in a part of Canada where unpaid town councils and first responders are shouldering increasing numbers of emergencies. Jason Chaulk was supposed to fly out on Monday for Saskatchewan, where he is a rotational worker at a mine. But the volunteer mayor and deputy fire chief in Musgrave Harbour, N.L., along the northeast coast of Newfoundland, said he stayed home to fight the out-of-control wildfire threatening his community. Crews from volunteer fire departments in about a dozen other neighbouring communities have also pitched in, working alongside provincial firefighters, he said. Meanwhile, volunteer search and rescue teams helped residents leave safely after officials ordered an evacuation on Sunday. "I got guys here that flew in [Monday] morning that were away on turnarounds, guys that work on supply boats off the island, guys that work in construction in Ontario. Everybody came home, came together," said Chaulk. "We have our own jobs and our own families that we have to be concerned about," he added. "But we're taking on that responsibility for protecting the town as well." The fire near Musgrave Harbour ignited on Saturday evening during a spate of hot, dry weather. On Sunday, officials ordered the community's some 950 residents to evacuate as the flames crept within a kilometre of the town. Chaulk and his 30-member volunteer firefighting crew have been working since the blaze began, he said. They set up air mattresses in the fire hall so they can take shifts sleeping. The work means a lot to him. He grew up in Deadman's Bay, about 25 km southeast of Musgrave Harbour, where two children died in a fire, he said. The town didn't have a fire department to respond, Chaulk said. "From that day on, I took it upon myself that if there was any way I could help a community and be a firefighter, I would." The 16-square-kilometre wildfire in Musgrave Harbour was one of five burning in the province on Tuesday. A larger fire — 18 square km — burned about 100 km away in the Chance Harbour area. As of Tuesday morning, both were out of control. The Chance Harbour fire began last week and burnt several cabins to the ground along Bonavista Bay. It was the second wildfire this year to destroy structures. In May, a fire in the Adam's Cove area, located about 90 km to the south, demolished about a dozen homes. Craig Pollett, a consultant and former chief executive of Municipalities Newfoundland and Labrador, worries that too much is being asked of small volunteer councils and fire departments, especially as more storms and wildfires are expected as the climate changes. "I would imagine the impact on the human beings doing this work is incredible, whether they are volunteer firefighters or professional firefighters," said Pollett, vice-president of Strategic Steps, which advises organizations on governance. "It's got to be even more so when you actually have another job that you have to do." Newfoundland and Labrador has about 274 municipalities across a population of roughly 540,000. Three-quarters of those towns are home to fewer than 1,000 people, and many have a few hundred residents, he noted. Unlike much of the rest of Canada, Newfoundland and Labrador doesn't have regional governments, which could help towns pool their scarce resources and better plan for emergencies such as wildfires, he said. This lack of upper-tier governments puts a large burden on small volunteer-led towns — some with fewer than 100 people — when disaster strikes, Pollett said. Mike Tiller is a volunteer firefighter and mayor in New-Wes-Valley, which is about 45 km southeast of Musgrave Harbour, where he was on Sunday helping out, along with other members from the New-Wes-Valley crew. Tiller wondered if there was some way for the federal government to create a program to compensate unpaid first responders working for days or weeks in an emergency. "When you have volunteers that are turning down money to stay home and protect their town, I mean, that's huge," he said in an interview. "This is something that needs to be looked at. Because the next generation is coming up and who knows what you're going to get for volunteers?" Download our free CBC News app to sign up for push alerts for CBC Newfoundland and Labrador. Sign up for our daily headlines newsletter here.
