NORTH Vancouver RCMP are looking for a mystery caller whose garbled message to 9-1-1 triggered a massive, and ultimately fruitless, search of Mount Seymour last week.
The call came around 4: 30 p.m. Friday, just as a severe hail and lightning storm kicked up on the North Vancouver peak but the call was dropped before the 9-1-1 operator could get much information.
"It was very garbled. I listened to the tape, and what I could make out was it was a single, adult female saying: 'I'm on Mount Seymour and I need help.' But it was so garbled that's all we could discern," said Tim Jones, North Shore Rescue team leader. The cell phone had no SIM card or GPS, and was untraceable, making the search difficult.
Jones said the emergency response was swift and thorough, bringing in 22 North Shore Rescue members, helicopters from the RCMP and Talon Helicopters, and all available staff on Seymour, but a massive search from the mountain's recreation area down to Deep Cove found no indication of anyone being lost.
"My theory is that she was either on a chairlift or she was a snowshoer who was very close to the parking lot area and she was able to get out on her own and leave," Jones said.
But uncertainty lingers, and Jones would like to see the woman contact police.
"It would be a big favour for everyone. . . . No charges will be laid. We understand why that call would have been made," Jones said referring to the storm. "It probably scared the hell out of a lot of people."
