Search and rescue officials are relieved a weekend operation had a happy ending after an elderly woman went missing in the bush.
Meadow Lake RCMP say 89-year-old Alice Gobert was located after being reported missing after a berry-picking trip Saturday evening.
A ground search was organized which involved a police dog, RCMP Search and Rescue services, Meadow Lake Fire and Rescue, Saskatchewan Environment fire crews and civilian volunteers.
Members of the Civil Air Search and Rescue Association were also brought in.
CASARA pilot Paul Ricklefs of La Ronge says one plane had already made an unsuccessful search when he arrived in his Cessna.
“We were at a search and rescue exercise in Camrose, Alberta and we were on our way back from there. And then when we arrived, they handed off the information to us. So we tried searching a different area south of the location. We suspected she had maybe tried to walk home, and we found her walking in a cut line.”
Ricklefs says he and the spotter circled the area to guide the ground searchers.
He says about sixty volunteers and 10 RCMP officers were involved in the ground search.
“The ground searchers, they did a lot of work. There was volunteer organizations from Big River, I heard — volunteers that went into the wee hours of the morning on Saturday night, and also were up early Sunday morning, looking for her.”
The elderly woman — who is hearing impaired — was in good health, and was checked by medical personnel before returning to her family.