A hiker who was missing for two days has been rescued by the US Coast Guard from Shore Acres state park in Oregon after rescue crews heard her shouting for help.
The 64-year-old, who was found on Sunday, had been missing since Friday evening after being separated from her hiking group, the coastguard said.
Oregon state police called in the coastguard to monitor radio calls to help locate the woman after nightfall, saying the dark, the rugged terrain and her lack of survival gear were making the search difficult.
A helicopter rescue crew using thermal imaging was also dispatched on Friday evening, but eventually returned to base due to poor weather conditions.
On Saturday, ground teams, including K-9 crews, from the Coos county sheriff’s office, Oregon state police and Oregon’s department of emergency management were dispatched, and two coastguard flights searched later in the evening once the weather had improved, still in vain.
On Sunday the search was joined by a team from California Oregon Regional Search and Rescue Task Force, and shortly after noon several members of the ground team heard shouting in a remote area of the park.
They eventually located the missing woman, who was showing signs of hypothermia and dehydration. Rescue crew moved her to a safe extraction point and built a fire to warm her up, as they waited for a coastguard helicopter, which arrived at 1.45pm and flew her to Bay Area hospital in North Bend.
The rescue team later learned it had been unable to locate her using the thermal imaging equipment because she was sheltering underneath a log. Only upon hearing the helicopters did she begin shouting for help.
“The Coast Guard and our partner agencies here on the Oregon Coast routinely train together to ensure we can execute coordinated search and rescue missions whenever we’re called upon,” Commander Jay Kircher, an operations officer and one of the helicopter pilots at Coast Guard air station North Bend, said.
“It’s fantastic to see this teamwork in action and produce a successful outcome,” he added.
