An Oregon family of four has been found safe in northern B.C. but the reasons for their bizarre trek into the backwoods remains unclear.
Search and Rescue teams located and positively identified the family yesterday around 3 p.m on the west side of Kinaskan Lake, the opposite shore of the highway in an isolated area of the province 450-kilometres north of Terrace.
“They are safe and in care of police to make sure they’re good and healthy, which they are,” said Terrace SAR vice president Dave Jephson last night. “It’s an excellent outcome. I did not expect this outcome at all, to have four alive individuals. We’re very happy.”
The search for Jeffery Phan, 24, Michelle Lesaca, 24, and two children, 3-year old Satana Phan and 2-year old Satan Phan began when BC Hydro workers found their black 2018 Toyota Yaris near a powerline 500-metres from Highway 37 on June 18. A sign was left on the car saying that the driver had gone looking for gas, but upon investigation, police found no recordings of any members of the family at nearby gas stations.
SAR teams from Terrace, Stewart and the Bulkley Valley, with help from the Civil Aviation Search and Rescue Association and RCMP began a search and rescue operation at 5 a.m. on June 20 between Hwy 37 and Kinaskan Lake, a 90-minute drive south of the nearest town, Dease Lake.
The family was first spotted by air, but the helicopter was forced back to refuel. Ground teams then crossed the lake with a borrowed boat to reach the location.
“How they got there, we’re not sure. It is a ways away from the highway and where their car was…but yes, they did walk there because they didn’t have a boat either,” he said.
At this time it’s not believed they were prepared for wilderness survival.
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Jephson said the SAR team’s experience with the family indicates they may have intentionally gone into the wilderness and did not want to be found.
“I think they were out there in intentionally…who knows why,” Jephson said.
The family was then taken into RCMP custody where BC Ambulance services assessed their health.
Ragan Smith, the search manager for Stewart Search and Rescue, said her team will be debriefing tonight, as there was no cell service in the search area.
It’s not known how long the family had been away from their vehicle, but police believe they entered Canada at the Roosville Border crossing near Fernie B.C. on June 9 and had been in the Dease Lake area since Sunday, June 10, a trip that would normally take about 23 hours to complete.
RCMP learned the family had originally planned to travel to the Phillippines but later cancelled their flight at the airport in Portland, Oregon just prior to boarding May 25.
Police do not yet know the family’s citizenship status, nor why they crossed the border into Canada.
—With files from Quinn Bender
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