When 20-year-old Californian Darcie Nicholson left a cabin on Inian Island on Tuesday morning, she told her companions that she’d be back in an hour.
The hours went by, and Nicholson didn’t return, according to an Alaska State Troopers dispatch. The other people she was with searched for her on land and sea, but couldn’t find her, so they called Troopers. Troopers and U.S. Coast Guard personnel went to the island, which is about three miles northeast of Elfin Cove on the north end of Chichagof Island.
Their search began at about 7:50 p.m. Tuesday, and searchers used a FLIR heat-seeking device to look for Nicholson. FLIR devices, which range from security products to hunting gear, use thermal imaging to locate humans or animals. At just after midnight, they found her about five miles away from the cabin she was staying at, the dispatch states. She was flown to Sitka via Coast Guard helicopter and was treated for mild hypothermia, Troopers say.
