The sister of a missing Duncan man who was found safe on Wednesday says the family isn’t sure what happened, but he may have been in a car accident while out of cell service.
Robert Clark, 31, left his Duncan home around noon on Saturday with fishing gear without telling anyone where he was going or when he would be back.
When he wasn’t home by Sunday evening, his family became concerned and launched a massive search for him, his sister Alayna Clark said.
They managed to log into a tablet Clark left at home to access his Google and Samsung accounts, using “find my phone” functions to see the latest location recorded by his cellphone. A ping at about 1:50 p.m. Saturday put Clark at Pachidah Road and Deering Road near Port Renfrew, his sister said.
Family and friends started looking for Clark on Monday and scoured those areas, as well as lakes and side roads from Nanaimo to Port Renfrew, looking for any sign of the missing man or his 2007 grey Volkswagen Jetta.
The search ended happily Wednesday when his family received a call from police that Robert Clark had been found.
Alayna Clark said police received a report of a possible sighting of her brother near McClure Lake, in a remote area north of Port Renfrew.
They followed up on the tip and located his vehicle and the missing man, she said.
“It appears there was a mild collision. He had a mild head injury,” she said.
The family has few details about what happened, but Alayna Clark said she believes her brother was injured, out of cell service and unable to go far, so he stuck near his vehicle.
She said she dropped to the ground with relief when police called with the good news.
“I’m going to give him a big hug and then give him hell for going out of cell range without telling anybody where he was going,” she said.
She urged others to always tell loved ones where they’re going and when they intend to return when heading out on adventures outside of cell range.
