Golden Ears Park: Missing Canadian teen found after 54-hour search
- Published
Esther Wang disappeared on Tuesday at Golden Ears Park in the province of British Columbia
A Canadian teenager has been found two days after she went missing in the wilderness of a vast provincial park.
Esther Wang, 16, disappeared after she was separated from her hiking group in the 555sq km (214sq mile) Golden Ears Park in British Columbia.
Authorities launched a mammoth 54-hour search that included a helicopter, a drone and 16 search teams.
But the teen emerged uninjured from a trail on her own on Thursday.
Police said Ms Wang was recovering with her family.
"She's healthy, she's happy, she is with family. That's the best possible outcome for us," Royal Canadian Mounted Police Supt Wendy Mehat said in a statement.
"Esther's family has expressed sincere gratitude to all first responders and Search and Rescue groups," Supt Mehat added. "They are very thankful for this outcome and request privacy at this time."
Officials said Ms Wang emerged from the East Canyon trail on which she had initially gone missing at around 21:30 local time on Thursday (04:30 GMT Friday).
It is unclear how she was separated from her group. Local media reported that the group left a lookout point around 14:45 on Tuesday, and realised that Ms Wang was not with them around 15 minutes later.
The group leader returned to the lookout but could not find her, and so raised the alarm. A search was launched soon after.
Ms Wang was checked by emergency services, who determined that she was unharmed during the ordeal - with the exception of some mosquito bites. She was then permitted to return home with her parents.
"We're elated at the outcome of the search and Esther being returned to her family is what our objective was," search and rescue spokesperson Ryan Smith said.
"We used as many resources as we could. I'd like to thank our partner organizations, the RCMP, other first responders, the helicopter companies that assisted us in this exhaustive search."