Mounties say a deactivated cellphone was instrumental in helping a search and rescue team track down a mother and son who got lost on a hike in Goldstream Park over the weekend.
West Shore RCMP received a 911 call from a 15-year-old boy just after 6 p.m. Sunday, saying he and his mother went off the trails and became lost.
The hikers didn’t have supplies, food, water, proper shoes and had no hiking experience to speak of, according to Mounties.
They were almost out of luck when it came to calling for help, because the cellphone they brought didn’t have a service plan and couldn’t make calls.
But after the pair realized that deactivated phones can still call 911, they reached out for help and were told to stay at their location and search crews could find them.
The team found the mother and son within a couple of hours by using the phone’s GPS coordinates and escorted them back to their campground.
They did not sustain any serious injuries, police said.
RCMP remind hikers to make sure they’re adequately prepared for their journey and to only stick to marked trails.
