The family of missing hiker Julian Sands has spoken out as the hunt for him on Mount Baldy in California approaches its eleventh day and another hiker is reported missing.
After setting out on a trek up the perilous mountain in Southern California on January 13, Sands’s wife, Eugenia Citkowitz, was the one who initially reported him missing as being unaccounted for.
In a post that was shared on Twitter by the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department on Monday, the department affirmed that the hunt for the missing actor from The Killing Fields is still ongoing. The department also added that it would “proceed to utilize the resources” that it has available to it in order to assist in the search.
Along with the update, the department also distributed a statement that had been issued by Sands’s family. In the statement, the family expressed their appreciation to the “heroic search teams” that are still contributing to the hunt for the missing actor.
According to what is said in the statement, “We are extremely moved by the outpouring of love and support.” Our most sincere gratitude goes out to the kind deputies of the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department who are organizing the hunt for our beloved Julian.
Even though the Sheriff’s Department of San Bernardino County noted in a cautionary notice on Monday that helicopters and drones continued to utilize infrared equipment to look for Sands, there has been no trace of the actor as of yet.
On Sunday, a supplementary search of some of the places that had been investigated earlier in an effort to find Sands got underway. This search was initiated when a Los Angeles resident named Jin Chung, who is 75 years old, was reported missing in the same region.
“The time when Chung was last seen was around about 6:00 AM. Chung originally rode to Mt. Baldy with two other people in a carpool, but they split off once they got there, with the agreement that they would all meet back at the vehicle at 2:00 p.m. to debrief on the day’s events. The other hikers made it back without incident, but Chung has not been seen or heard from since they left “according to the information provided by the sheriff’s department.
In a message that was published on Wednesday on the department’s Facebook page, the Sheriff’s Office emphasized that the mountain should still be considered “adverse and highly hazardous.”
According to what is said in the article, “because of the heavy winds, the snow has turned to ice, making trekking exceedingly perilous.” “The operations of the Sheriff’s Search and Rescue team are often impeded by inclement weather in addition to hazardous avalanche conditions. Recent storms have produced snow and ice conditions, which are not ideal for hikers. This is true even for hikers who believe they have a high degree of expertise because of the weather.”
Over the course of the previous month and a half, the department said that it had participated in a total of 14 rescue operations on Mount Baldy and in the surrounding region. According to ABC 7, in addition to Sands and Chungs, the authorities are seeking for another hiker named Bob Gregory, who is from Hawthorne and has not been seen since January 16. He was out on a hike in the San Gabriel Mountains, close to Crystal Lake and the surrounding region.