(Updates with missing student found)
By Dan Whitcomb
LOS ANGELES, May 21 (Reuters) – A 22-year-old college
student who went missing in Yosemite National Park in California
two days ago has been found safe about five miles (eight
kilometres) from the campsite where he was last seen, a park
spokesman said on Monday.
Authorities combing the nearly 1,200-square-mile
(3,100-square-km) park spotted John Paul Chaufan Field by
helicopter at about 3:15 p.m. on Monday and made contact with
him, Yosemite spokesman Scott Gediman said.
The University of California at Santa Cruz senior was
unharmed and in good health, Gediman said, and was being
transported from the back-country to a ranger station in the
park’s Hetch Hetchy area.
Chaufan Field had last been seen at mid-morning on Saturday,
walking away alone from a campsite near the park’s Kibbie Lake
and was still gone when the rest of the students in his group
set off for day hikes, Gediman said.
His backpack and other gear were left at the camp. When he
was still missing early the next morning, several students from
his group hiked out to contact park rangers.
He was found about five miles (eight km) away near Edith
Lake. Authorities could not immediately say if he had hiked
there alone or why he left the group.
(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and
Eric Beech)
