Rescuers find grandmother and 3 grandchildren who went missing on a hike in South Carolina
CLEVELAND, S.C. (AP) — Rescuers on Tuesday found a grandmother and her three grandchildren who reported them lost while hiking in a South Carolina state park the previous evening, prompting a massive search with drones, helicopters, all-terrain vehicles and dogs.
The Greenville County Sheriff’s Office said the four parked a vehicle near a trail at Caesars Head State Park in Cleveland but were discovered on a completely different trail.
Greenville County Sheriff Hobart Lewis said a helicopter evacuated them from rugged terrain made even more slippery by rain. He said the hikers had no apparent injuries and were reunited with their families. Emergency responders are set to further assess their health conditions.
“Everything went well and everyone should have been reunited there,” Lewis told reporters Tuesday.
The sheriff’s office said in a statement that a child called 911 Monday evening and said three family members had been missing in the state park area for about three hours.
The sheriff’s office identified the hikers as Tonda Michelin, 53; Explosions of Melody, 14; Michael Lawton, 11; and Dale Moser, 9. Authorities did not say whether they lived in the area or why the grandmother did not call.
The sheriff said the boy’s phone battery was nearly dead at the time of the 911 call, but he was able to stay on the phone for 10 or 12 minutes. He said the boy was coherent and knew what was going on.
“We’ll talk to the grandmother and the kids and figure out what they might have done last night,” Lewis said.
The search began Monday and involved at least 50 people from half a dozen agencies, including the National Guard.
Caesars Head State Park is approximately 30 miles (50 kilometers) northwest of Greenville, South Carolina and is a protected environment for rare animals and plants.
The hikers had parked near the start of the Ravens Cliff Falls trail, a 4-mile (5.6-kilometer) round-trip that leads to Caesars Head, a dramatic granite overlook atop the Blue Ridge Escarpment that offers views of many waterfalls.
According to the website, all Caesars Head trails are rated advanced and are located in a wilderness setting. The hikers were discovered on the Bill Kimball trail. a particularly challenging hike.
“It’s a tough situation,” Lewis said. “There are some trails there, some for more experienced hikers than others. Hurricane Helene took down a bunch of trees that were still down and covered up a lot of those trails. There are signs that some of the trails have been lost.”
