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Girls Missing After Family Hike Found Safe

POSTED: 5:15 am PDT May 19, 2008
UPDATED: 5:52 pm PDT May 19, 2008

Two girls who became separated from their father during a family hike were found safe Monday.

The girls were tired but in good condition after spending more than 15 hours alone in the wilderness, deputies said.

View Slideshow Of Area | Watch Air 12 Video

The father, son and two daughters became lost Sunday night on the Tarbell Trail in the Yacolt Burn State Forest, about 40 miles northeast of Portland.

Gintaras Jonas Braciulis of Vancouver, and his 15-year-old son became separated from the two girls who were 10 and 7 at about 3 p.m.

Braciulis searched for the girls but in a forested area with meadows, steep ravines, creeks, cliffs and many other potential hazards he was unable to find them.

At about 7:30 p.m. Braciulis managed to call 911 to report that the girls were lost, but at that point, he and his son could no longer find their way out of the wilderness.

Missing Children Found After Extensive Rescue Effort

Rescuers used heat-seeking technology to search for the Vancouver, Wash., family late Sunday.

They found the father and his son overnight, but the daughters were missing until 10:30 a.m. Monday.

At about 10:20 a.m., Tyler Komm and Mike McClain of the Volcano Rescue Team radioed that they had found the girls near Coyote Creek about a mile west of where the Tarbell Trail crosses the creek.

The girls were tired, but uninjured.

"They were zig-zagging their way down and had somehow gotten farther back from their older brother and their father, and when their father and older brother stopped and turned around and looked they weren't there anymore," McClain said.

The girls were carrying a backpack, some water and a sweatshirt. Sgt. Steve Shea, from the Clark County Sheriff's Office, said the weather was mild overnight, but he said the Tarbell Trail area is "very remote."

"I was really surprised that they made it through all that stuff. I mean we had a hard time getting through a lot of it I don't know how they got through it," Komm said.

At least 15 different organizations participated in the rescue effort, which utilized aircraft, helicopters, motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles, horses and dogs.

The girls' father also helped searchers and showed them where he last saw the girls.

Related:
  • View Slideshow Of Area
  • Air 12 Video: Two Daughters Missing After Family Hike
  • Link: Map of Tarbell Trail

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