After a week spent searching Kelowna’s backcountry for a missing senior, 40 volunteers from around the province will be coming to aid local crews.
Seventy-nine year-old Alan Francescutti was last seen leaving his home in his truck on April 16.
On April 22, the police issued a plea to the public, requesting information on Francescutti’s potential whereabouts.
READ MORE: 10 days later: Search continues for missing Kelowna senior
The Kelowna RCMP say Francescutti is considered to be a “high risk” senior.
One day later after RCMP issued the plea, Francescutti’s 2021 Dodge Ram 1500 pickup was discovered in the forest near Postill Road, near the Beaver Lake and Dee Lake Road area, by members of the Okanagan Forest Task Force and an off-roading group called O.T.B.
Francescutti, however, was nowhere to be found.
Since the truck was discovered, the Kelowna-based Central Okanagan Search and Rescue Organization (COSAR) has been working alongside the RCMP to search for the missing man.
Now, 40 skilled volunteers from around the province will be coming to Kelowna on Saturday April 27, to aid in the search.
Duane Tresninch from COSAR has asked that the public continue to stay away from the Dee Lake area. Scent detection dogs, including Kelowna’s Barrett, are using their noses to locate Francescutti. Having more people in the area than necessary can make the search more difficult for the pups.
Tresninch said that despite the search for Francescutti is “slow going.”
The densly forested terrain is difficult to move through as there is a lot of blowdown of dead trees and branches.
Anyone with information is urged to contact Kelowna RCMP at 250-762-3300 or the nearest police detachment and reference file number 2024-19989.