UPDATE: The search continues for 32-year-old Cody Martin and 29-year-old Tamara Sandulak.
Nanaimo RCMP are reporting dozens of Nanaimo Search and Rescue volunteers are on foot and using ATV, searching late into the evening Thursday in the area of the Nanaimo Lakes and Echo Lake.
The search resumed at 7 a.m. Friday, Nov. 13.
Depending on the weather conditions RCMP air support is expected throughout the day, according to a Nanaimo RCMP press release Friday.
Searchers hope to be able to locate the couple’s vehicle, described as a burgundy-coloured Dodge Ram 1500 pickup with B.C. plate NV9 240.
Const. Gary O’Brien, Nanaimo RCMP spokesman, said it’s critical that searchers find the vehicle to provide a starting point that will help the search efforts.
“Right now it’s like a needle in a haystack,” O’Brien said in a phone interview Friday. “There’s been two days of snow up there.”
According to the release, investigators have also learned that the couple’s dog, a black lab cross that goes by the name of Rex, is with them.
NSAR and Nanaimo RCMP are discouraging volunteers from assisting in the search or for media from attending the area.
“The area is actively being logged and logging trucks are a common sight on many roads,” O’Brien said in the release. “It is also hunting season and the area has had several days of snow fall making driving conditions treacherous. “
Neighbouring SAR crews from Cowichan and Arrowsmith are expected to join in the search today.
Martin and Sandulak are experienced in the outdoors and have frequented the area a number of times for fishing and to pick mushrooms.
The couple told family and friends they were heading to the Nanaimo Lakes area Wednesday for a day of fishing and have not returned. Search efforts were started after the couple were reported missing to police on Thursday.
Martin stands 6-feet-4, weighs 210 pounds with brown hair and blue eyes. Sandulak stands 5-feet-6, weighs 140 pounds and has brown hair and hazel eyes.
PREVIOUSLY POSTED: Police are asking for the public’s help after two anglers didn’t return as expected from a fishing trip last night.
Nanaimo RCMP issued a press release Thursday advising that Tamara Sandulak, 29, and Cody Martin, 32, have been reported missing.
“They are considered avid fishers and experienced outdoor persons. Their disappearance is out of character for them,” the release noted.
The two may have been fishing in the area of Second Lake in the Nanaimo Lakes area. They were travelling in a burgundy-coloured Dodge pickup with a canopy, licence plate No. NV9 240. Sandulak may be wearing a black jacket and jeans or dark leggings, while Martin is thought to be wearing a black jacket, black shirt and tan pants.
Nanaimo Search and Rescue and RCMP air support were searching during daylight hours and will continue their search in the morning if necessary.
Anyone who has seen Sandulak or Martin or their truck is asked to call 911 or the RCMP’s non-emergency line at 250-754-2345, quoting file No. 2020-41121.
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