SOOKE -- Two missing adult Vancouver Island scout leaders have been found alive after going missing in the Sooke hills area near Jordan River Sunday.
Juan de Fuca Search and Rescue (SAR) was called at about 2 p.m. on Sunday after the two leaders vanished.
They were said to have left a group of five children and another adult to go get their vehicle because weather conditions were deteriorating.
Since then, SAR members scoured a remote and vast wilderness area for the two adult leaders.
On Monday afternoon, three SAR members drove into the forest with two UTVs [utility terrain vehicles] to find the two leaders and bring them back to safety.
SAR manager Kathryn Farr said one of their members found the two adults.
She said they will still have to get the five children out safely which will be difficult because they are “on the wrong side of the river.”
SAR crews found the group of children and one adult leader safe in a campsite near a river in the area on Sunday evening. The searchers decided to stay at the campsite with the group before evacuating as weather conditions made travelling dangerous and heavy rainfall had swelled the nearby river to dangerous levels.
Benjamin Kenmare tells CTV News Vancouver Island that his brother is one of the scout leaders who went missing.
Kenmare said his brother, Peter, is 39-years-old and a very experienced outdoorsman. He says he lives in Sooke and is married with three children.
“He knows this area,” said Kenmare.
The other leader, who Kenmare says is named Lisa, is an adult woman.
“I have good faith he is OK and that he’s going to get home safe to his family,” said Kenmare.
He said his brother has taken scouts into this area multiple times before.
