Missing Canadian man found after 50 days in freezing wilderness

A backpacker missing for over a month in northern British Columbia was found safe Tuesday, according to a release from the Northern Rockies detachment of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Sam Benastick set out alone on Oct. 7 for a 10-day backpacking trip in the northern Rocky Mountains and was reported missing Oct. 19. Authorities dispatched local volunteers and police dogs in search of Benastick to no avail for weeks. Authorities feared Benastick was dead, police spokeswoman Cpl. Madonna Saunderson said. An extraordinary amount of time and effort was put into his search, she added.

How was he found? Two men came upon Benastick in a remote part of Redfern-Keily Provincial Park on Tuesday and recognized him from media reports. Benastick told police that he sheltered in his car for several days before camping at a mountainside creek for over a week, according to police. Benastick made another camp further down the valley where he eventually found his way to the trail where he met his rescuers. Saunderson told CBC News several questions remain about how he came to be missing in the first place, and why he didn’t just drive his vehicle out of the wilderness.

Dig deeper: Read my report on another extraordinary rescue in the Pacific earlier this year.