Search Continues For Missing Dad
Searchers intensified their efforts Tuesday to find a San Francisco man missing for more than a week in the snowy Oregon Coast Range as his rescued wife and two young children recovered in a hospital.
Trained dogs, horse patrols and a helicopter with heat-seeking capabilities are to join the search for the husband who left for help through the snow for his stranded family in his tennis shoes and didn't come back.
A helicopter spotted Kati Kim, 30, waving an umbrella at about 1:45 p.m., CBS News reported. Her two young daughters, Penelope, 4, and Sabine, 7 months, were also found in the family's car. But Kim's husband, James, was not with them. He left two days ago to look for help, police said.
"We're relieved and we have some moments of joy," Kati Kim's father, Phil Fleming, told The Early Show. "At this time, I can only think and worry about the safety of my son-in-law, and from all I've heard, he's just a heroic father."
Penelope and Sabine were airlifted Monday to Three Rivers Community Hospital in Grants Pass.
Trained dogs, horse patrols and a helicopter with heat-seeking capability were to join other helicopters, Snow-mobiles and foot patrols that searched in vain Monday for James Kim, 35.
The three "are in good condition, Kim and the kids" Linda Rankin, vice president for patient care at the hospital, told The Associated Press Monday evening.
Photos Of Family Members Rescued From Oregon Wilderness
"Mom arrived in an ambulance smiling and waving."
Nursing supervisor Cynthia Russell said the mother nursed both children while they were lost.
"They spoke of dad trying berries in the area, but they were not sure if they were poisonous," she said.
Josephine County Undersheriff Brian Anderson said James Kim was wearing tennis shoes, a sweater and a jacket.
Sabine Kim was admitted to the hospital for observation. Her mother and sister shared the room.
The family was seen at a Denny's restaurant in Roseburg, Ore., on Nov. 25, when they were about to set off on a drive of about 135 miles to the Gold Beach area to stay at the Tu Tu Tun Lodge after a vacation in Seattle. The hotel reportedly received an early evening phone call from the Kims saying they would be arriving at the hotel later than expected, CNET, James Kim's employer, reported on its Web site.
"I can't put it into words how I feel right now," Samantha Martin-Evans, a close friend to the Kims, told CNET after hearing the news of the rescue Monday. "I didn't want to give up hope, but after nine days hope was starting to ebb last night. But now...just thinking of her waving on the side of the road is quintessential Kati: 'Here I am, come get me,' is so like her."
The family said James Kim left the snow-stuck car at about 7:45 a.m. Saturday and went the way they had come for help, saying he would return by 1 p.m. if he found none. He didn't.
He walked down into a drainage area. Trackers followed his footprints until dark Monday night.
Anderson said the family turned onto a side road and became stuck in the snow and ran the car heater through the nights to stay warm, eventually burning their car tires.
"The helicopter was about 100 feet off the ground when all of a sudden they came across Kati, the car, and after they landed they found the two children," Oregon State Police Lt. Gregg Hastings told The Early Show of the rescue.
Hastings said a detective interviewed Mrs. Kim, who said they had intended to take Oregon 42, the usual route from Interstate-5 to the south Oregon coast, but missed the turnoff, found Bear Camp Road on the map and decided to take it instead of turning back.
Hastings said the four huddled together as a family for warmth. He said some of the tires were burned as signal fires to attract attention, but before helicopters joined the search.
Kati Kim told the detective they had only a small amount of baby food and other supplies in the car.
They went the wrong way at a fork in the road and were 15 miles from Bear Camp Road when found, Hastings said.
Asked if he was concerned about James Kim's lack of warm clothing in an area that has nighttime temperatures below freezing, Hastings remained positive: "This family has survived this long, and people have survived under pretty remarkable circumstances in the past in other areas around the country and here in Oregon. No one's giving up hope at all."
The complicated network of roads in the area are commonly used by whitewater rafters on the Rogue River or as shortcuts to Gold Beach in the summer but are not plowed in winter and can be impassable despite being touted as a convenient alternate route.
Kati Kim was found near the Rogue River in the area of Bear Camp Viewpoint, near the Curry and Josephine county line.
The Kims were vacationing in Seattle, saw friends in Portland and headed toward a resort in Gold Beach on their way home, but they never arrived.
Bear Camp Viewpoint, near where the car was found, is at a high point in the Coast Range with a view of the southern Oregon wilderness.
Anderson said searchers had to use Sno-cats in the area Monday because of ice and snow.
Searchers said they picked up a "ping" from the Kims' cellphone that guided them to the general area where the family eventually was found and that it was key to their discovery.
The region is remote enough to be generally out of cell phone range.
James Kim is a senior editor for CNET Networks in San Francisco who covers digital audio and co-hosts a weekly video podcast for the Crave gadgets blog on CNET.
The couple owns two boutiques in San Francisco. Doe is a clothing store on lower Haight Street, and the Church Street Apothecary in Noe Valley sells baby goods and skin care products.
Searchers including volunteers and friends and relatives of the family had been checking highways and along the coastline for any sign of the family and their vehicle.
In addition, troopers checked hotels and resorts on the south coast.
The Curry County sheriff's office in Gold Beach was searching the region using four-wheel drive vehicles but were limited by snow and icy conditions.
The Oregon National Guard Air Unit deployed a Blackhawk helicopter to search the roads in the Bear Camp Road area.
Their family also had hired helicopters to search the area, one of which found the mother and children.