Helicopter called in to search for missing woman, 93
An RCMP helicopter and search and rescue teams helped Victoria police on Monday look for a 93-year-old woman who hadn’t been seen since 6:30 a.m. in Esquimalt near the Gorge Waterway.
Virginia Leong left for a walk in the 400-block of Treebank Road East and did not return. She is four feet, 11 inches tall and was last seen wearing a white jacket.
Victoria police said late Monday that due to Leong’s medical condition, they were growing increasingly concerned for her well-being as the search extended into the night.
Investigators asked people who live in the area of the Gorge Waterway to look in their backyards, outbuildings and surrounding areas for Leong.
During the day, officers canvassed neighbours on Treebank Road and Dellwood Avenue, while two search and rescue teams set up in Kinsmen Gorge Park.
Leong was in Victoria with her daughter and granddaughter for a wedding over the weekend, said daughter Chris Donovan.
The family was supposed to return to Vancouver Monday morning. They were staying with a cousin, Vivian Eng, who lives on Treebank Road.
The 93-year-old likes to go for morning walks and Eng said on Saturday morning, Leong went for a walk around 4:30 a.m. and returned home around 6 a.m.
Donovan said her mother is physically fit for her age and doesn’t use a cane or walker. Donovan said she came to an agreement with her mother that she would only go for walks once the sun had come up.
“I’m worried something has happened to her,” Donovan said, sitting on the front steps of Eng’s home. Leong was not carrying a cellphone. “We’re kicking ourselves for that now because we should have used a [GPS] locator,” Donovan said.
Both Donovan and Eng said they were impressed by the massive search.
Victoria police said the search team included members of the military police, Metchosin Ground Search and Rescue Team, Peninsula Emergency Measures Organization and the Victoria Fire Department, while the B.C. RCMP’s helicopter based in Comox searched the Gorge and surrounding area.
Volunteer searchers gathered in Kinsman Gorge Park on Monday, mapping out a search plan.
At around 4 p.m., a police boat was scouring the waterway, a bike team was searching the trails and a ground team was doing a grid search of the bushes, said Metchosin search manager Linda Hillard.