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Callouts 2019

Displaying items by tag: kennford

Sad outcome to search for elderly man outside Exeter

Callout 16, 17, 18  and 20 /2019 -  Hannaford Farm, Kennford,  27th, 28th, 29th and 30th June 2019

Dartmoor Rescue Ashburton volunteers searching farmland on the edge of Haldon forest near Exeter

A large scale search involving multiple agencies and resources during the hottest week of the year was launched to look for a 75 year old male who had gone missing from his isolated home on the edge of Haldon forest sometime between 9pm on the 26th June and 08:00am on the 27th.

We, along with our colleagues at N Dartmoor SaR and MR Search Dog Association, assisted the Police and other full-time emergency service agencies including Devon and Somerset fire and Rescue Urban SaR team and the Police helicopter. Search teams were deployed around the gentleman's home stretching in a radius of 1Km in an effort to locate him. 

In the early hours of Sunday the 30th of June following 3 days or searching and after our members had been stood down, 'groans' were thought to have been heard in a particularly difficult to access woodland on the edge of Haldon Forest. Whilst investigating a Police dog handler had unfortunately broken his ankle and so the Police focused turned towards recovering him and our volunteers were called out again to investigate. After a short search, one of our teams discovered a cow trapped at the edge of the woods in a distressed state and probably accounted for the the sounds heard by the Police earlier. A professional decision was made to, unfortunately, destroy the animal as attempting to recover it was difficult and would have caused the animal additional distress. A vet was called and the team were stood down around 03:15.

With no information or clues to his whereabouts and all allocated areas searched at least once, the Mountain Rescue involvement in the search was withdrawn on the Sunday. Police investigations however continued and on the evening of the 8th July, his body was located outside the area covered by the MR teams approximately 1.6Km from his home. His death is not being treated as suspicious.

We spent a huge amount of time deployed on this search and we are very sad that we were unable to locate him. Our thoughts and condolences are very much with his family at this time.

Callout 19/2019 -  Sowton village, Exeter 22:04 29th June 2019

In between the callouts at Kennford, we again alongside our N Dartmoor colleagues were asked to assist in a search for a vulnerable male who had gone missing around the Sowton village area of Exeter. Members deployed for water searches and were stood down after the missing person was located by Police officers.

Published in Callouts 2019
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