Search-and-rescue teams are briefly pausing their efforts to find a Victoria woman missing near Sooke as they prepare for an expanded push on the weekend.
Paul Berry of Comox Search and Rescue said 15 or more teams from Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland will search for 38-year-old Melissa McDevitt on Saturday and Sunday.
In the meantime, RCMP officers and police dogs are continuing to scour the area’s many trails through tough terrain for the missing woman, whose vehicle was found Saturday in the parking lot at the Charters Creek fish hatchery, a few kilometres from Sooke Potholes.
The avid hiker, who was due to fly to North Carolina Saturday to visit family, was seen in the parking lot on surveillance video at about 2 p.m. Friday with her hiking poles.
Her father, Tom McDevitt, has travelled from North Carolina to help in the search.
Contact Sooke RCMP at 250-642-5241 or Victoria police at 250-995-7654, extension 1 with any information about the case.
