WATCH: A man in his 30’s is believed to have spent days trapped in his pick up truck before being found by a hunter.
UPDATE: A man rescued after being trapped in a pickup truck near Sayward on Tuesday afternoon is believed to have been there for several days.
A post on the Missing: Duncan Moffat Facebook page says “Duncan was found around sayward, stuck in truck for 5 days.”
It goes on to say that the 23-year-old, who’d last been seen leaving his father’s home in Sayward on November 3rd, suffered a broken femur, was dehydrated and delusional, and that he is expected to be in the hospital for a quite some time.
There had been no calls or texts from his cell phone since Sunday, November 4th. A missing vehicle report was filed with RCMP that same day. A missing persons report was filed on Wednesday, November 7th.
A family member told CHEK on Tuesday night that they would like their privacy as they focus on helping Duncan with his recovery.
Emergency crews were called to a road rescue on Highway 19 south of Sayward Tuesday afternoon after a hunter found a man trapped in his vehicle about 15 metres down a steep embankment.
“It’s pure happenstance that a hunter was down in the bush and located the vehicle and called us,” said Constable Francios Veillette of the Sayward RCMP. “Some heavy rain over the last 12 hours so we don’t know exactly when it happened.”
The man who was disoriented when police arrived but conscious and alert.
He was trapped in the truck by the steering wheel and it was determined by paramedics on the scene that he had suffered a broken leg.
“The vehicle went off the road about 100 yards or 200 yards before the impact location and rolled for sure and hit a big tree,” added Veillette. “He’s actually pretty lucky to have missed some big boulders, so the person is very lucky to be alive at this point.”
Firefighters from Campbell River responded to the scene and initiated a rope rescue to being the victim up to the road on a backboard.
He was taken to hospital in Campbell River for treatment.
Dean Stoltz
