Multiple agencies assist in search and rescue incident in Egypt Valley
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PIEDMONT -- Local law enforcement assisted in a search and rescue operation to find a missing hiker in the Egypt Valley Wildlife Area last weekend.
They deployed aerial equipment and the man was found quickly.
Sgt. Scott Moore of the Ohio State Highway Patrol's St. Clairsville post said law enforcement was alerted that a 20-year-old man from the Tennessee area had gone missing in the local area.
"He was out scouting the public hunting land, preparing for the upcoming deer season, and he got turned around and lost," Moore said. "His family had reached out to the county sheriff's office because he hadn't been heard from in almost 24 hours, so the sheriff's office called the highway patrol looking for an aerial asset. I went out to the scene. I called our aviation section and they sent down an airplane, and the airplane located the subject in the first 10-15 minutes that (the plane) was in the area. He was fine, he was just lost.
"We then called out our special response team to assist the sheriff's department and go in to locate the subject. The aircraft actually walked our people into him," Moore said.
Moore noted that caution and preparedness are advised for all hikers, and he said the circumstances could have been worse.
"He was laying a track with his cellphone and for some reason his battery just started going down really quick and he texted his family and said: 'My battery's dying, I'm going to put my phone in airplane mode,' and then when he turned it back on it took the battery down and died. He was plotting his course with the GPS on his phone," Moore said. "He couldn't access it to re-walk his path. Kind of a pickle, but he did the right thing and just sat down where he was at. He had some food and water with him in a backpack, and the weather temperatures were good, so he wasn't in jeopardy of being hypothermic."
Moore added that hikers should bring a map and compass, as well as take other precautions that the hiker did.
"Electronics are great up until they fail, so you should always have a backup plan," the sergeant said. "He did the right thing - he let people know where he was going to be, which is key. Had we not known where he was, Egypt (Valley)'s a pretty big area, it would have been tough to locate him. But he gave them his coordinates where he'd gone into the woods at."
Moore said law enforcement was able to get a "ping" off the last transmitted signal from the man's phone and the coordinates of where the phone last hit on a tower.
The highway patrol's drone was also used.
"The drone was able to fly right to him and then we lowered the drone right to him, almost landed it by him, just to let him know we knew where he was," Moore said.
The St. Clairsville Police Department also supplied a drone. Local firefighters and first responders from Barnesville, Fairview and Belmont assisted as well, along with Ohio Department of Natural Resources officials and the Salvation Army.
"It was a good joint effort," Moore said.