**** RCMP Media Release
Multi-agency response results in locating missing fisherman
Halifax District RCMP and Sheet Harbour Ground Search and Rescue (GSAR) have located a missing fisherman safe and sound in Sheet Habour with assistance from the Department of Lands and Forestry.
On July 14, a 71-year-old Dartmouth man went fishing in Grand Lake Sheet Harbour. In the afternoon, his boat motor stalled and in the process of trying to restart the motor, the small boat took on water then was suddenly overturned by the wind and waves. The man, who was wearing a lifejacket at the time, went into the water but was far from shore. Despite being injured as a result of his boat overturning, he managed to get back into the boat but lost an oar, his boots and his cell phone. He was unable to restart the motor, row to shore or call for help. After several hours, the boat drifted to shore at the north end of Grand Lake. The injured man pulled the boat ashore and sought shelter along the shoreline.
Just after midnight on July 15, police were notified that the Dartmouth man had not returned from his fishing trip. A search of the area for the man and his truck overnight was unsuccessful.
In the morning, Sheet Harbour GSAR and a helicopter from the Department of Land and Forestry were activated to assist with the search. At 3:05 p.m. the helicopter crew spotted the man, thanks to his brightly coloured life-jacket, near the shore on the north end of Grand Lake – a very remote part of the lake. Conditions at the time were cold, wet and windy.
Two boat teams from Sheet Harbour GSAR searching nearby immediately responded. The man was then evacuated from the area by helicopter, treated by EHS on scene and re-united with his family.
This was an excellent multi-agency search and rescue response led by Sheet Harbour GSAR volunteers who deployed 13 searchers, two boats and two 4×4 trucks in the search efforts, and including RCMP detachment members from Sheet Harbour and Middle Musquodoboit, and Department of Lands and Forestry with Eastern Shore Search and Rescue enroute to assist at the time the man was found.
