Keshav Jindal has been missing since Monday afternoon. Helicopters are part of the massive search party. Photos: Chek News//Screenshots
A 25-year-old hiker has been missing four days in Strathcona Park, a sprawling national park that covers nearly 618,000 acres of rugged wilderness in the middle of Vancouver Island.
The missing hiker, Keshav Jindal, disappeared on Monday afternoon and hasn’t been heard from since. Paul Berry, who is leading the search party for Comox Valley Search & Rescue, told reporters that Jindal was about four hours into a hike that started at the top of Mount Washington, a ski hill about a 100 miles west of Vancouver across the Strait of Georgia.
Jindal and his hiking partner made the decision to split up near Circlet Lake when Jindal conceded that the hike was too much for him. His friend continued on, and they planned to meet up again when the friend came back down. They planned on hiking back down together.
“We know about 3:15 on Monday he sent a message to another friend (in a) quick video with a lake below saying ‘Hey, I’m going to start my way down to the lake,'” Berry explained. “We’re not sure if it was Moat Lake he was looking at, or Circlet Lake but we don’t believe he took a trail. Every trail has been scoured by air, by ground, by search dogs, with no success.”
By Wednesday, helicopters were in the air, scouring the vast area beneath them for any signs of the missing man. Seven search and rescue teams from Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland are on the ground, rappelling down cliffs and navigating the treacherous terrain in hopes of finding Jindal.
Although Jindal is young and fit, the amount of time he has been missing for is concerning. According to friends, he didn’t pack enough to survive in the wilderness for long, and if he took a certain route, he could have found himself in serious trouble.
“We believe he took a short cut down to the lake below and if he’s done that, he’s in very steep and dangerous terrain,” said Berry.
The search cannot include more helicopters because nearly all of the available helicopters in the area are being used to fight the wildfires raging in British Columbia.
