DCSO Search and Rescue helps 6 stranded motorists after 4 vehicles get stuck in snow S. of Bend

(Update: Adding details of people rescued, involved vehicles)

Two separate groups needed help on China Hat Road, about 30 miles south of town

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – A call to help a pair of stranded motorists stuck in the ice and snow on China Hat Road south of Bend Sunday night turned into a lengthy operation for Deschutes County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue, whose volunteers ended up assisting six people from four vehicles in the same predicament.

Sheriff’s deputies got a call around 8:35 p.m. about two men who were overdue for more than 24 hours, having headed out to pull a stuck vehicle out of the snow near milepost 28, said Deputy Donny Patterson, assistant SAR coordinator. The caller said his brother and brother’s friend left around 2 p.m. Saturday to try to pull out his friend’s stuck vehicle.

The caller said he’d not heard back from his brother for about a day, suspecting that the pair got stuck overnight, trying to dig out. Patterson said the caller was concerned that they needed help, as there’s no cellphone service in the area and they had yet to return home.

A Special Services deputy with SAR contacted the caller and got more information about them and their likely location, Patterson said, but several calls and text messages got no response. A cellphone was pinged and provided a general location where the phone was last used.

SAR paged volunteers and two responded. Around 10 p.m., the team headed to the location, bringing the tracked vehicle called an ARGO.

As the team headed south, dispatchers got another call from someone who said he’d not heard from two friends who drove to China Hat Road near milepost 29 to recover his stuck vehicle, a call unrelated to the first one, Patterson said.

So it was suspected there were at least four vehicles with two separate groups stuck within a mile of each other. That information was relayed to the SAR team, Patterson said, but it was not received, due to limited radio and phone service in the area.

The SAR team deployed the ARGO tracked vehicle near milepost 24 and made their way through three-foot ruts in the icy snow toward the stranded motorists. Around 11:15 p.m., they reported they had found a total of six people and four vehicles stuck in the snow – high-centered on ice – that needed rescue. All were unhurt and did not need medical assistance, Patterson said.

The SAR team began to shuttle the people out of the area, helped by a deputy who responded to the location. As they were brought to the staging area, the deputy brought the two initial overdue objects to where they were met by friends and brought back to Bend. The deputy gave the other four a ride back to town.

The SAR team returned to the SAR office and completed the rescue mission around 2:45 a.m. Monday, Patterson said.

Patterson said five of the people who they assisted were from Bend and one from Sunriver. They were four men and two women, ranging in age from 32 to 52. The vehicles involved were a Subaru Outback, a Honda CRV, a Ford Explorer and a Honda Pilot.