Update on Missing Family Mom and Children Found Alive. James Kim Still Missing. Rescue Due to Family, Techie

Cyber Alert Still Active.  James Kim Still Missing.  Family Members Found Alive.

Excerpt AP report at Seattle PI "3 members of missing family found alive":

Three members of a San Francisco family missing for more than a week were found alive Monday along a snowy, treacherous roadway in southwestern Oregon, police said. A search continued for the father.

Investigators said a helicopter spotted 30-year-old Kati Kim waving an umbrella about 1:45 p.m. PST. Her daughters Penelope, 4, and Sabine, 7 months, were with her. They were airlifted to Three Rivers Community Hospital in Grants Pass.

"Mom arrived in an ambulance smiling and waving," Linda Rankin, vice president for patient care at the hospital, told The Associated Press. She said all three were in good condition, and would spend the night at the hospital.

Rescuers continued to look for Kati Kim's husband, 35-year-old James Kim. He left on foot two days ago to seek help, police said. Helicopters with thermal imaging technology were added to the search Monday night, and searchers were following the father's footprints over a ridge and down into a drainage.

Read rest of that article at source (link above).

I'd like to ask why the government rescue service couldn't have started the using helicopters and thermal imaging a while ago.

It could be life or death for Mr. Kim.

But, wait!  This gets weirder and weirder.  The Family and a techie were the ones to rescue Kati and the girls, not the government rescue services.

Beta News reports:

CNET says an employee of Edge Wireless, the cellular provider in the area, developed computer models on the fly that processed data from faint signals he believed to be coming from their cell phone. The Kim family then commissioned a helicopter and sent it toward the location the employee had triangulated.

Along that route, pilots spotted a woman waving an umbrella in the air. It was Kati, and now rescuers believe James can't be far behind.

"The officials known the area where James is located now," reads the family Web site. "They have 60 searchers on sno-cats, in 4x4s and are covering the area heavily with helicopter searches." The site also contains more information for people in the area who would volunteer their efforts to join in the search.

Thanks to Beta News.  Much of the info at the family site is in PDF.   I hope the link to the html entry page above is obvious.  Due to disk space problems I have not installed the lastest PDF upgrade so it refuses to work for me.  If I was in the area of the search or could get their, I wouldn't hesitate but as it is, I guess I'll have to miss the PDF.  They have much information and even the html page shows how you can help.

It is the Glendale area of Oregon that James Kim is still missing in, if you want to know if you're close enough to join in.  (I have no idea where that is.  Here's a Yahoo map of the area you can zoom in or out.

Pics (including after rescue of Kati and kids) at SFGate

I know, but even I had to look. 

After this is all over, we really need to have a discussion in this nation about how hard we are going to work to keep people who are lost or trapped in winter conditions alive.  I am greatly disturbed that apparently things could be done that weren't done and aren't normally done.  It seems that these kinds of resources should be standard in an anxious search and rescue like this.

Next time it could be your family.

This is the nation that put people on the  moon for pity's sake.

An NBC11 report from Monday morning is, of course, no longer valid, now that mom and kids are found, but tells us that James' father actually hired 3 helicopters over the weekend to help with the search.

tags: james kim  national guard  oregon  california  

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