Search intensifies for Vancouver Island woman missing more than 1 week

A break in the weather on Friday helped crews searching for a woman missing on Vancouver Island.

Sara Sherry, 45, of Errington, B.C., was last seen on Feb. 15 driving a 2017 Nissan Frontier pickup truck near Highway 19 and the Northwest Bay Logging Road.

In a breakthrough Friday afternoon, Oceanside RCMP say her truck was located by searchers near a logging road approximately twenty kilometres south of where she was last seen.

“The area where the truck was located is a popular weekend destination for back country enthusiasts and search crews are actively searching the area through day and night.  We are asking for those out there this weekend to be on the lookout for Sara. Arrowsmith Search and Rescue and civilian air search and rescue will be in the area throughout this weekend searching for Sara,” says Oceanside RCMP Sergeant Shane Worth in a release Friday.

Fog has hampered search efforts for the last three days, but clear skies Friday allowed search-and-rescue teams from Nanaimo, Arrowsmith and the Alberni Valley to widen their search area.

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“We’re really lucky today that the cloud cover lifted and we’ve been able to fly with both fixed wing and rotary wing in the area,” Arrowsmight Search and Rescue manager Nick Rivers told Global News.

Sherry was last seen driving in the direction of the Mosaic Forest Management Compound, where crews have concentrated their search efforts.

“Thousands, literally thousands of miles of roads,” Rivers said of the search area.

RCMP say they are searching the area “thoroughly” in the belief that Sherry is still out there.

“Tracking cellphones is always an option we look into,” Oceanside RCMP Const. Tim Kenning said.

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The efforts come as the number of calls search crews take climbs steadily upward.

Rivers said the Arrowsmith team has seen their call volume double in the last five years.

“The last three months are the busiest we have ever had,” he said.

“We’ve been involved in almost 30 operations in the last three months, which is 300-per cent growth in the last three years.  It is getting phenomenally busy.”

Crews are now planning to ramp up the search over the weekend, taking advantage of empty logging roads.

They’re also asking members of the public who are heading into the backcountry to keep an eye out for Sherry.

Sherry is described as five-feet three-inches tall and 120 pounds with blond hair and green eyes.