The search for the Penticton man who went missing in northern Nevada in March is expected to resume this week.
Reports out of Elko, Nev. Monday say an eight-member team will begin looking for 59-year-old Albert Chretien again after exhaustive search efforts previously failed to turn up any trace of him.
He and wife Rita were on their way to Las Vegas in mid March when their van became stuck along a forestry road.
Rita was found with the vehicle nearly seven weeks later by a couple searching for antlers. She survived on snacks and was eventually forced to melt snow for water.
The 56-year-old woman was taken to hospital in Twin Falls, Idaho, in fair condition, later transferred to Penticton Regional Hospital and eventually released.
Albert left the van on foot on March 22 to go in search of help and was not seen again.
In an email release, Chretien’s son Raymond said the family had no further details about the latest announcement but were “encouraged” by the news of the search.
According to a spokesman for the Elko County Sheriff’s Office, attention will be concentrated near where the van was discovered and in the same region where almost 200 people spent over 1,500 man hours covering 300 square miles.
Those efforts were halted due to poor weather conditions and a lack of success.
At the time, sheriff Sgt. Kevin McKinney expressed his frustration in not being able to help the family find some closure in the matter.
The latest search will go on the assumption that if Albert got as far as nearby Telephone Creek he would follow the corridor of overhead communication lines in hopes of finding help.