39 year-old missing in central B.C. wilderness found alive

Police in British Columbia are sharing more details about an impressive story of survival in the province’s Cariboo region.

Andrew Barber was found by search and rescue crews Friday, after a helicopter spotted his truck on a forest service road, leading to crews honing in on the area.

The 39 year-old had been last seen on July 28 near Castle Rock, west of the Fraser River between Quesnel and Williams Lake.

Staff Sergeant Brad McKinnon with the Williams Lake RCMP detachment shared an update with Global News on Barber’s condition Saturday.

“I’m pleased to announce that it looks like he’s going to be healthy and perfectly okay.”

McKinnon says while the specifics around Barber’s trip are unclear, his vehicle broke down on the rural road in late July.

“He took steps to shelter and survive and trusted that first responders working on the case would find him and that’s exactly what happened.”

Bob Zimmerman with Quesnel Search and Rescue says Barber was located a few kilometres west of where had been last seen more than a week ago.

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“He was in pretty weak condition. It’s not known if he would have made another 24 hours, because all he had survived on was just some water,” said Zimmerman.

Barber and his shelter were found near a large rock with an SOS message written on it in mud.

“He had taken some grass and stuffed in his clothing for insulation, he built himself a small shelter. He was drinking pond water to survive. We’re just very happy that he was found alive.”

McKinnon noted crews spent days scouring hundreds of kilometres of backcountry to find Barber, equating the operation to finding a needle in a haystack.

“We got lucky and we’re pretty pleased with what took place but geographically, this is a significant area in terms of land mass.”

After being found and extracated, Barber was treated for dehydration at Cariboo Memorial Hopsital in Williams Lake. He has since been released and reunited with his family.

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