Missing couple found

A couple was found on a rural road Monday after they were out of contact with family and friends for 36 hours.

A man and woman, both 23, left a Prince George home Saturday night around 9:30 p.m. on their way home to Vanderhoof using back roads instead of Highway 16.

"They never arrived," said Cpl. Craig Douglass in a press release Saturday. 

Prince George RCMP got notice from Vanderhoof police Sunday and called in local search and rescue teams to start at 6 a.m. Monday.

By Monday afternoon, after combined efforts of more than 30 searchers, two fixed-winged aircraft and a helicopter, searchers got a call from one of the missing people using a satellite phone.

"They were on the Batnuni Forest Service Road, significantly south of where they should have been," said Douglass in the release. "A truck driver located them with vehicle trouble last night and took them to a nearby camp for the night."

Prince George Search and Rescue said the pair were found in "good condition" around 12:30 p.m. after their truck became stuck while driving the back roads from Prince George to Vanderhoof.

Combined search teams from Prince George, Vanderhoof, Nechako Valley and Quesnel spent the morning "patrolling remote roads between the two communities all morning and into the afternoon," the RCMP release said.

Dale Bull, information officer with Prince George SAR, said stay off the remote roads.

“If you don’t have to use them don’t,” he said. “It’s always safer. 

“If you have to go into a more remote area… make sure you stay with your vehicle, make sure you’re visible from both the ground and the air and make sure you stay there.”

In those cases it’s always ideal to have a way to communicate, like a satellite phone, if you’re going out of cell service.

“If not make sure there’s a good trip plan, someone knows where you’re going and and someone knows when you’re supposed to be back," Bull said. 

Prince George RCMP ask the public to be cautious with winter driving, especially on remote roads.  

"Extra supplies including water, food, a first aid kit, warm clothes, a flashlight and a fire source should accompany everyone on a trip.  Please drive main routes whenever possible," Douglass said.