Regional search and rescue (SAR) teams have continued combing the Mount Elphinstone area for 56-year-old Gibsons man Greg Welstead, who has been missing since Monday (March 12).
The SAR team was summoned after Welstead's car was found crashed into a tree that afternoon, the driver missing.
We've had a variety of assumptions, but what we know is that he survived the accident and left the vehicle, said Alec Tebutt, manager of the SAR team that has been carrying out searches in the area since Tuesday. What his intentions were, we don't know. There's no family or friends that have anything that they know either, so there's just not any information to go on.
A witness, who police say described Welstead's behaviour as out of character, reported seeing him walking down Reed Road less than three hours before his vehicle was found.
Sunshine Coast RCMP are requesting that anyone with information that might be helpful to search to contact them at 604-885-2266.
Welstead is described as a Caucasion, 6'1 tall and around 200 pounds. He has brown hair and eyes, may be wearing glasses and was last seen wearing a burgundy fleece jacket and black track pants.
The SAR team has included search volunteers from Nanaimo, Squamish, Lions Bay, Surrey, Coquitlam, Powell River and Arrowsmith.
Tebutt said the search would continue tomorrow (Saturday) unless Welstead is found, but so far nothing has turned up.
No indications, no clues at all, he said. We're going a day at a time. Tomorrow will have covered, I think, as much as is reasonable to cover unless we get some further information or clues.
Searchers have been doing closed-grid operations throughout the area, canvassing many areas that are difficult to traverse. A ground search has covered four square kilometres, the aerial operation has covered eight.
An estimated 90 volunteers have helped in the effort to locate Welstead since Tuesday afternoon, offering more than 800 hours of their time. Police dogs have also been used in aid of the ground search.
RCMP released an updated press release on Friday afternoon.
Further investigation revealed that the crash occurred between 6:30 and 8:30 a.m. (March 12), but wasn't reported to the police until 5:50 p,m., said Sgt. Russ Howard, adding that Welstead had been the subject of an investigation earlier that day.
Anyone wishing to contribute their time to the search effort is invited to attend on Saturday at 10 a.m. Search teams assemble at the SAR command post at the intersection of Henry Road and Reed.
