Young Siblings Found After Night Alone on Mountain

Their dad told them to stay put while he went for help
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted May 21, 2019 3:04 AM CDT
'Miraculous Rescue' for 2 Kids Who Spent Night Alone on Mountain
One of the rescued children is brought to safety.   (Coquitlam Search and Rescue)

Two young American siblings survived a night alone in a forested area on a Canadian mountain after following their father's instructions and staying put. Search and rescue officials say the 6-year-old girl, the 7-year-old boy, and their father fell down a "steep, treacherous cliff" into a creek drainage area after getting lost on Mount Burke in British Columbia on Sunday while trying to get to a lake to go fishing, the CBC reports. Authorities say the injured father wrapped the children up in warm clothes and told them to stay where they were while he climbed back up the hill to seek help. Authorities say the family was visiting from Georgia and the father was unfamiliar with the area. Crews searched for the children all night after getting the father's call for help around 7pm.

The kids were found around 8:30am Monday and brought out in a helicopter longline rescue. "This was really a miraculous rescue and a really positive outcome," says Coquitlam Search and Rescue manager Ian MacDonald. "This is very rugged terrain where they were lost so we were just very, very thankful that they were found alive and uninjured." He says a backpack and some shoes were like a "trail of breadcrumbs" that led searchers to the siblings, CTV reports. Brad Rennie from Ridge Meadows Search and Rescue says the kids were spotted hiding under a gray sweatshirt where they were "invisible, pretty much like a rock." "The kids did a great job. And the dad did a great job of telling them, you know, 'I want you to stay here,'" McDonald says. (More uplifting news stories.)

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