Hiker found after missing for five weeks
FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. – Missing hiker Sam Benastick has been found.
CBC was the first to confirm with family that 20-year-old Sam Benastick was found Tuesday after being reported missing on October 19, 2024. Benastick was supposed to return on October 17 from a camping trip in the Redfern Keily Park.
Reports suggest that Benastick was found near an oil and gas camp and was taken to a Fort Nelson Hospital. Details about his condition are not known at this time.
On October 30, the extensive search for Benastick was called off, and at that time, his mother, Sandra Crocker, said “endless volunteers” searching the Redfern Trail couldn’t find a trace of her son.
“We scoured the Sikanni Cheif with no results and the Buckinghorse today,” Crocker explains. “This terrain does not allow many access points to the rivers.”
“We have moved onto a new area of the [Prophet River] and hoping to find some trace,” she adds.
Limited information exists about how Benastick survived the last five weeks, and we hope to learn more in the coming days.
