Searchers rescued Thursday an 18-year-old woman who had gotten lost with a friend on an Easter Sunday hike in a southern California forest.
A sound of a female voice led Orange County Sheriff's search and rescue teams to locate Kyndall Jack. Crews hoisted her out of a dense ravine in the Cleveland National Forest about noon on Thursday, four days after the ordeal began.
The rescue came hours after authorities found Jack's hiking companion Nicholas Cendoya. He was found "dehydrated and disoriented" in a ravine near where Jack and Cendoya had parked their car.
Searchers had to cut through thick brush to rescue Cendoya, Park said. Visibility was less than 10 feet.
About 40 rescue workers and volunteers had searched for Cendoya and Jack on Wednesday, Park had said. During the search, two hikers became lost and had to be tracked down and rescued.
Cendoya and Jack, both residents of Costa Mesa Calif., had called authorities at 8:25 p.m. Sunday to say they had gotten lost, said Gail Krause, an Orange County sheriff's spokeswoman.
The cellphone battery wore down, and authorities could not get an accurate GPS "ping" from the phone to pinpoint their location, prompting a massive search, said Sheriff's Lt. Erin Giudice.
Russ Jack, father to 18-year-old Kyndall, had spent two nights near the search area and was clearly emotional on Wednesday. He said he thought he had seen sparks of light on the hillside, but the searchers found nothing.
"After three days, you gotta say no water. The kids are dehydrated. Hopefully none of them are hurt," Russ Jack said. "At this point, everybody is still upbeat, optimistic about finding the kids in good shape and alive."
NBC4's Vikki Vargas contributed to this report.
Photo Credit: CA DMV
