A missing 75-year-old man with severe dementia has been found safe not far from where he went missing in Lantzville on Monday afternoon.
CHEK News reporter Kendall Hanson says Wayne Strilesky walked out with the searchers who’d located him.
Searcher’s found Strilesky shortly before noon Tuesday 300 meters from the home where he was last sighted the day before. He was in very dense vegetation.
He walked out arm in arm with one of the searcher’s who helped find him.
“I was stunned,” said his wife Natalka Strilesky. “There are no words to express how I feel.”
“I can’t tell you how much I appreciate everything they’ve done for my husband.”
Dave Roberts of Nanaimo Search and Rescue spotted Strilesky first. He’s been a volunteer for three years and been involved in more than 20 searches but he’s never found a missing person.
“This is my first time,” said Roberts. “It was great to see him reunite with his family after.”
Wayne Strilesky is looked over by paramedics.
35 Search and Rescue members from Campbell River to Lake Cowichan, K9 units, as well as RCMP officers in the air and on the ground, searched in the Green Lake/Phantom Road area.
His wife says she’ll now be purchasing a project lifesaver bracelet to ensure her husband won’t be so hard to find if he’s ever gets lost again.
The map of the area where Wayne Strilesky went missing. (Google Maps)
CHEK News
