A Tragic Ending

December 6, 2006

Sad news this afternoon out of Oregon about the man from the stranded family I blogged on yesterday.

Officials held a press conference around 3:45 p.m. ET confirming earlier reports that a man was in fact found dead.
Authorities were visibly emotional and thanked Kim’s family for their support during the search.

With the progress searchers had made yesterday they were hopeful for a happier ending.

airborne rescuers spotted a flash in a heavily wooded area and caught a glimpse of a man laying face down. Searchers were being lowered from the helicopter to assist the man.
Fresh search teams had joined the hunt earlier in the day for the San Francisco man who set out on foot Saturday to help his family out of the snowy coastal mountains. Kim had left clothing and other items such as bits of an Oregon map that appeared arranged to guide searchers, officials said Wednesday.

Searchers are puzzled at this time and may never know what reason he had for leaving the road and entering the drainage area where his body was recovered.

When he left the car Saturday, James Kim went about two miles along the road, and then headed down into a drainage area, said Lt. Gregg Hastings of the Oregon State Police.
About 100 rescue workers and four helicopters were searching for Kim, following his footprints down a drainage called Big Windy Creek that leads to the Rogue River.
Anderson said he does not know why Kim went into the drainage area. “I hope to have the opportunity to ask why he did that,” he said.

I hope if anything we take away from this is that we need to be prepared for emergencies that may pop up and to have a plan to deal with them. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends during this difficult time.