SARDA Wales dog Boris returns after his find. At around 8:20 p.m. on Thursday 30th June, call-handlers from Aberdyfi Search & Rescue Team were made aware of a vulnerable adult missing from a residential center in the Dolgellau area.
The 49 year old male with severe learning disabilities had disappeared at around 6 p.m., heading out into heavy rain with neither shoes or a jacket. Preliminary searches of the buildings and grounds by staff and subsequently North Wales Police Officers had failed to locate the man, and a request was made for the Team to help develop the search of the grounds and surrounding areas.
Using search statistics to help refine the scope of the operation, the immediate focus was on the areas close to the place where the man was last seen. Because of the poor weather conditions, both the Police and Coast Guard were unable to provide air support, so the task fell to ground teams alone. The search by Police officers and around 20 Aberdyfi members was joined by members of Barmouth and Aberdyfi Coast Guard units and Dolgellau Fire Service who brought along thermal imaging equipment to try and detect the man in the overgrown search areas. The South Snowdonia, Aberglaslyn and RAF Mountain rescue teams were put on standby to join the search at first light.
Shortly after midnight two SARDA Wales search dog teams arrived on site and joined the rescue effort. Search dog Izzie began sweeping steep ground adjacent to the main buildings while Boris, who is trained to follow the missing person's scent, started working from the man's last known position. For several hours, neither dog could find evidence that the man had left the immediate vicinity of the house, but at around 3:00 a.m. Boris picked up a scent leading up onto the hillside. Shortly afterwards the dog-handlers found the missing man, cold, wet and a little battered by his experience, about a kilometer up the track.
The casualty site was quickly accessed by a Team Landrover and shortly before 4:00 a.m.the man was driven back to the center to be checked over by a waiting ambulance crew, and all search parties were stood down.
The 49 year old male with severe learning disabilities had disappeared at around 6 p.m., heading out into heavy rain with neither shoes or a jacket. Preliminary searches of the buildings and grounds by staff and subsequently North Wales Police Officers had failed to locate the man, and a request was made for the Team to help develop the search of the grounds and surrounding areas.
Using search statistics to help refine the scope of the operation, the immediate focus was on the areas close to the place where the man was last seen. Because of the poor weather conditions, both the Police and Coast Guard were unable to provide air support, so the task fell to ground teams alone. The search by Police officers and around 20 Aberdyfi members was joined by members of Barmouth and Aberdyfi Coast Guard units and Dolgellau Fire Service who brought along thermal imaging equipment to try and detect the man in the overgrown search areas. The South Snowdonia, Aberglaslyn and RAF Mountain rescue teams were put on standby to join the search at first light.
Shortly after midnight two SARDA Wales search dog teams arrived on site and joined the rescue effort. Search dog Izzie began sweeping steep ground adjacent to the main buildings while Boris, who is trained to follow the missing person's scent, started working from the man's last known position. For several hours, neither dog could find evidence that the man had left the immediate vicinity of the house, but at around 3:00 a.m. Boris picked up a scent leading up onto the hillside. Shortly afterwards the dog-handlers found the missing man, cold, wet and a little battered by his experience, about a kilometer up the track.
The casualty site was quickly accessed by a Team Landrover and shortly before 4:00 a.m.the man was driven back to the center to be checked over by a waiting ambulance crew, and all search parties were stood down.