A six-year-old girl who went missing from her home about 250 kilometres west of Prince George was located safe on Sunday evening after a massive search effort involving several Vancouver Island search-and-rescue crews.
The girl went missing outside of her residence in the small Central Interior community of Southbank near Burns Lake on Thursday evening.
Hundreds of people checked into the Skin Tyee First Nation band office over the past four days where the First Nation, RCMP, search-and-rescue crews from across B.C. and family co-ordinated the search effort.
Police said the girl was found in a forested area on Sunday just after 6 p.m. between her residence and the band office.
The area had been previously searched, leading searchers to believe she was likely moving around during the time she was missing, police said.
A video taken at the scene shows the mother carrying her six-year-old daughter out of the woods to cheers from search volunteers.
Burns Lake RCMP detachment commander Staff Sgt. Joshua Smith said the safe return of the girl was the outcome that everyone had hoped for.
“We are thankful for the support of all our partner agencies and volunteers that worked day and night to achieve this outcome,” he said in a statement.
Six members of Nanaimo Search and Rescue and two canine search dogs were flown out to the Burns Lake area for the search, as well as members of Comox Valley Search and Rescue and Campbell River Search and Rescue command staff.
