We received a few inquiries over the weekend asking about low-flying helicopters in North Bend. There were actually two missions going on.
The helicopters were reported on over the weekend near Mt. Si Road, 8th and Ballarat and areas of Snoqualmie and left some residents wondering what was going on.
Today, King County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO) Sergeant Cindi West confirmed those were search and rescue helicopters. They were continuing their mission to locate missing skydiver, Kurt Ruppert, whom they presumed perished after jumping out of a helicopter at 6,500 feet on January 3rd.
There was also a rescue mission yesterday, January 13th, for two injured snowshoers on Granite Mountain, who were transported to Torguson Park in North Bend where paramedics were waiting. Snohomish County Search and Rescue helicopter SnoHawk 10 transported those injured snowshoers.
Guardian 2 helicopter continued to search the high, steep peaks of Mt. Si in hopes of locating Ruppert’s body on Friday. Four observers were on board looking for the missing skydiver. These were the spots of the narrowed area that could not be reached by ground crews during their 4 day search.
Sgt. West told local news stations earlier that even if Ruppert’s parachute did open (which no one can confirm), that he most likely would have perished from hypothermia in the days following the jump.
Unfortunately, the helicopter search still did not locate Ruppert, 29, of Florida. No word on when/if helicopters will go up again.
Comments
Thank you for the helicopter info. Leona Powers