By Dominic Abassi

UPDATE: RCMP, family say Spencer Hunt has been found alive

Jan 29, 2017 | 1:36 PM

NANAIMO — Family members and RCMP confirm Spencer Hunt has been found alive. A helicopter is being used to pull him out. Apparently found in or near a river. No word on his condition at this point. More to come.

EARLIER:

Hundreds of square kilometres have been searched and still there is no sign of a missing hiker who hasn’t been seen for more than 24 hours.

Spencer Hunt, 20, was last seen walking ahead of his family not far from the Ammonite Falls Regional Trail trailhead at the end of Jameson Rd. That was 2 p.m. Saturday afternoon.

By late Sunday morning, more than 80 members from search and rescue teams from all over the island were combing the bush for Hunt, according to Comox Valley Ground SAR search commander Paul Berry.

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Berry said the search has increased in size, with resources including a helicopter, all-terrain vehicles and people on horseback.

“These teams are tired, they’ve been out all night,” said Berry, speaking to reporters outside the command post in a parking lot near the end of Jameson Rd.

“They are continuing to work hard to find Spencer and bring him home.”

Berry said their crews are working with a very large area, criss-crossing logging roads and many biking trails.

“Quite a bit of snow in the terrain and a number of creeks,” he said. “It can be steep, very, very heavily wooded, it’s very challenging area to search.”

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Hunt did not have any food or water and was not wearing waterproof clothing, according to Berry.

“This is a young, healthy man. If he has continued to keep moving, he’s going to be keeping warm…the weather has been cool overnight, we have had rain this morning. Certainly we are concerned for his well-being.”

More than 60 vehicles lined the roads around the trailhead and a small community of family and friends was growing throughout the day Sunday. Hunt’s mother and sister huddled inside a van to stay warm and family members handed out sandwiches and coffee to bystanders. Most remained positive, although it was clear emotions were raw.

Berry said their teams will continue to search through darkness Sunday evening and are already in the process of planning for Monday.

“We have requested more and more teams to come…moving as far as to request teams from the Lower Mainland tomorrow,” said Berry.

The search initially began around 7 p.m. Saturday and went through until about 4 a.m., before a short break was taken.

Berry said the trail system connects all the way up to Mt. Benson.

“You can get on a trail and keep going for a long period of time,” he said. “Spencer resides in Victoria and he is not familiar with the terrain. He is not an outdoorsman, this is a young man who is going to be very frightened out there.”

dabassi@islandradio.bc.ca

On Twitter: @domabassi