MERRITT — A man from a Merritt area ranch is the subject of a large-scale search effort, after a rider-less horse was found Monday afternoon by loggers in the area.
Midday Update from Thursday January 31st:
Police believe 32-year-old Benjamin Tyner, the ranch manager of nearby Nicola Ranch, went out on horseback Sunday, but he has not been seen or heard from since then.
As the search continues, Merritt RCMP have narrowed down the timeline of how long he has been out for, but are still trying to determine how Tyner made his way out to where he was riding, and where he was headed.
About 40 to 50 volunteers came to the Merritt area today to help with the ongoing search.
Merritt RCMP Const. Tracy Dunsmore says the RCMP helicopter aided in the search, along with ATVs, snowmobiles, and dog teams helping the ground crews.
“We’ve got some trackers, and the dogs are back out. We have lots of ranchers from the Nicola Ranch that are out on horseback doing some gridwork,” Dunsmore says. “So we have lots of manpower, it’s just we’ll probably be expanding the search area today and looking outside of where we already looked.”
Tyner’s parents have also flown up from Wyoming, and have been in contact with police, while his brother has joined the searchers out on horseback.
At this point, RCMP say they have determined Tyner would’ve likely left on Sunday, however it’s still not known how he got into the backcountry.
“We know of his whereabouts on Saturday night, so that gives us an extra day,” Dunsmore explains. “We are still looking at how he may have gone up here, because we’re still thinking that maybe he was driven up. So we don’t know who would have driven him up, or if there’s anybody out there that maybe brought him up with a truck and trailer, and we’re looking for that person if that did happen.”
Kamloops Search and Rescue Manager Alan Hobler says search and rescue teams from the Lower Mainland, Interior, and Kamloops areas have been called in to help.
“So a very big search effort overnight. We brought out our PEP air, air search and rescue, as well as our drones. Hoping to locate a campfire or a heat signature from the infrared, but unforunately we didn’t find anything at all.”
The search area is currently about a 15-kilometre radius north of Merritt in the area between Highway 97C and the Coquihalla.
Along with man-power and technology, local knowledge has also been utilized from members of the Lower Nicola Indian Band.
Leona Antoine of Shulus Forest Enterprises says they wanted to help out, offering 25 years of experience in the local forests.
“Ben is new to the community, so we’re concerned that he doesn’t have knowledge of the ground. So we’re out there seaching as hard as we can.”
Merritt RCMP ask if people are wanting to help out, that they go through the proper search and rescue volunteer procedure, and not conduct their own searches in the back country.
