A woman who went missing while hiking with a group in California had just one bottle of water with her and had been weak from a recent sickness, her daughter said.
Sung Mi Kim, 59, a Los Angeles resident, was with a group in the Angeles National Forest when she became separated from them around 11 a.m. on June 12.
When the group couldn’t find her, they reported her missing to the authorities. Search-and-rescue teams couldn’t locate her despite using thermal imaging after nightfall.
MISSING HIKER: The search resumes at daylight for a 59-year-old woman who became separated from her hiking group near Mt. Waterman in the Angeles National Forest. https://t.co/MDOWzdH1hw pic.twitter.com/di9Jxu31Qd
— CBS Los Angeles (@CBSLA) June 13, 2019
“It’s been 18 hours and she just had one bottle of water, and her body has been very weak and she has not been eating well for the last few months, so that’s why I’m really, really worried about her,” daughter Jane Kim told CBS LA.
Her mother doesn’t hike often and has a bad knee, Kim added.
Video footage from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department showed air rescue searching around Mt. Waterman for Sung Mi Kim on Wednesday night.
Other teams searched on foot.
LA Sheriff Air Rescue 5 searching Mt Waterman area last night. @SEBLASD @LASDHQ #SAR pic.twitter.com/tlAN8mLJke
— Montrose Search & Rescue Team (Ca.) (@MontroseSAR) June 13, 2019
Additonal video from last nights search for missing 59 yr old female hiker.@SEBLASD @LASDHQ pic.twitter.com/4sjJo29lwn
— Montrose Search & Rescue Team (Ca.) (@MontroseSAR) June 13, 2019
Montrose SAR searching for missing female hiker near Mt Waterman. Air Rescue 5 and Air 29 both assisted in search tonight. Search continues with additional SAR teams being called in. pic.twitter.com/Zz5QHGpXnq
— Montrose Search & Rescue Team (Ca.) (@MontroseSAR) June 13, 2019
Missing Hiker Found
Earlier this year, a man who went missing overnight in the same forest was found alive.
Angus Powelson said that he took a wrong turn and got lost but found a sleeping bag and slept in it before hiking out in the morning.
The 65-year-old was reported missing by his son, who had been hiking with him.
“I’m relieved,” Ian Powelson, the son, told NBC LA. “I thought he was dead. It was freezing cold last night, and he didn’t have anything with him.”
BREAKING: 65-yr-old hiker missing overnight in Angeles National Forest has been found alive! After taking wrong tuen near Strawberry Pk he got lost. Miraculously he found a sleeping bag + was able to use that as shelter. At sunrise he hiked out. @FOXLA pic.twitter.com/ogMPWSAscr
— Gigi Graciette (@GigiGraciette) January 21, 2019
The situation happened in January during the winter.
Teams searched for Powelson until around 2 a.m. before suspending the search because of weather conditions.
Powelson hiked out to a road the next morning and got a ride to downtown Los Angeles.
“When the sun started to set, he actually stumbled across a sleeping bag,” said Sgt. John Gilbert, of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. “In the morning, he got up and he bushwhacked through the mountains and found himself on Big Tujunga Canyon Road.”
