Search for missing Kelowna man paused again

The search for a missing 79-year-old Kelowna man has been put on hold pending further direction from police, Central Okanagan Search and Rescue officials said Sunday.

Allan Francescutti was last seen April 16, and the search that got underway April 21 has taken dozens of hours among dozens of search and rescue members from across the province.

The effort has centred around the Dee Lake area, north of Kelowna, where Franscescutti’s car was found. Little more of his whereabouts has been made clear since, and COSAR manager Duane Tresnich said it was Saturday afternoon when the search came to a halt.

1:56 Search for Kelowna senior continues

“We have to redefine the search and ask RCMP where we have to go next,” Tresnich said. “The terrain is extremely challenging. There hasn’t been a forest fire in that area in 100 plus years, the trees are close together, there’s lots of fall down and once you’re around 10 feet off the road, it’s thick.”

The hope among search crews was, based on the direction Francescutti’s vehicle was pointing, that he would have been found walking down the Forest Service Road in the area. That has not been the case and the forested area adjacent to the road poses more of a challenge.

“He could have gone any which direction,” Tresnich said.

Francescutti was last seen leaving his Lower Mission home on April 16, and his pickup truck was found not long after on a forest service road in the Dee Lake Road area.

Both police plus search and rescue are asking hunters or wildlife watchers to review their game cameras if they have any installed in the Dee Lake and Doreen Lake areas.

“There are a lot of hunters up here that might have trail cams, so we’re hoping someone might check their trail cams and we can see him coming up the road,” Tresnich said.