HALIFAX – A mother and son have been reunited after getting lost, separately, while in the woods in Halifax.
Sgt. Greg Robertson of the Halifax Regional Police said a 55-year-old woman went for a hike near the Maskwa Canoe Club around 8 p.m. on Tuesday but became disorientated.
Robertson said the woman called her 22-year-old son for help.
“He entered, attempting to look for her and became lost himself,” Robertson said. “So police entered the woods with K-9 dogs and attempted to locate the parties.”
He said the mother and her son had cell phones but they both ran out of battery power after the son called for help around 10 p.m.
Robertson said police used the last known co-ordinates of the pair to try to locate them.
However, police said the terrain was challenging to traverse, so they asked Halifax Regional Search and Rescue for assistance.
Crews arrived on the scene around 2 a.m.
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“It’s a rumbly piece of woods in there. But we know the area well,” said Search Director Blair Doyle. “That’s actually one of our training areas.”
Rescuers were able to make verbal contact with the pair quickly but were not able to make physical contact with the man until 3 a.m. They reached his mother about 30 minutes later.
They found the man around the Charlie’s Lake area while his mother was discovered in the Fox Lake area.
Police said the pair were at least three to five kilometres deep in the woods and were found, both uninjured, a few kilometres from each other.
Doyle said several factors led to the quick rescue.
“The subjects were assisted through cell phone location with GPS pings,” he said. “Also, it’s a good evening. They’re on a trail mostly.
“Nighttime searching is what we do. The majority of the subjects aren’t mobile, they tend to sit still because it’s dark, which is great so we can catch up to them.
“It’s just a matter of going in and retrieving them.”
Police say people hiking should always carry water, extra clothes and a fully charged cell phone, and should not venture out near dusk.
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