(KTLA) — A 78-year-old California man with dementia who went missing on a chilly December day has been found thanks to infrared heat-seeking technology, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Malibu Search and Rescue Team.
The man, whose identity has not been released, was reported missing in Malibu around 7:30 p.m. Monday, three hours after he went to check his mailbox and did not return. Officials spoke on X (formerly Twitter)..
The sheriff's office said temperatures were “down from 48 degrees.”
Using a drone equipped with infrared heat-seeking technology, Malibu Search and Rescue was eventually able to detect “significant heat signatures” in the brush along the road, authorities said. However, although the signature looked human, it was not moving.
“Believing that the fever symptoms were indicative of the missing person, Marib Special Administrative Region personnel were deployed with medical equipment and evacuation equipment,” the official detailed. “Rescue teams arriving at the scene observed the missing man suffering from a cold-related illness, appearing disoriented and unable to walk. The man was examined, wrapped in a blanket and placed in a rescue basket. Ta.”
The man was then treated and taken to an ambulance. The sheriff's office had not released any updates on the man's condition as of Thursday, but the X post called his rescue a “miracle just in time for the holidays.”
Malibu Search and Rescue concluded, “It was a great job by everyone involved.”
