Date: 5 December 2017
Time: 17.02hrs
Location: Hamsterley Forest, County Durham
Late afternoon on Tuesday our Search Dog handler was placed on standby to assist Teesdale and Weardale Search and Mountain Rescue Team (TWSMRT) in locating a missing 15 year old male with autism. The young male had disappeared whilst on a school trip to Hamsterley Forest.
As the search was scaled up, our Search Dog handler was deployed to work alongside other handlers from the North East, TWSMRT, Cleveland MRT and Swaledale MRT. The HM Coastguard helicopter from Humberside was also involved by this stage.
We were then called alongside North of Tyne MRT at 22.32hrs to assist with the search from 08.30hrs the following day should the incident continue overnight. Thankfully as availability responses were being gathered by our Duty Controller, the good news came through that the young male had been located by Forestry Commission workers who had been driving the forest tracks.
A great result and relief for all concerned.
The incident involved 1 Team member and search dog for 4 hours.
