(Trends Wide) — A 10-year-old girl was found safe and sound Monday, more than 24 hours after she was reported missing in the Cle Elum River Valley in Washington’s Cascade Mountains north of the city of Cle Elum.
Shunghla Mashwani, who moved from Afghanistan to the United States with her family two years ago, was attending a family reunion Sunday at the Cathedral Pass Trailhead on Fish Lake Road and playing in the woods on the west side of a footbridge over the river. Cle Elum, the Kittitas County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post. When the family crossed the river to the trailhead parking area for lunch, they realized Shunghla was missing, and about 20 adults from the group began searching for her.
“There is no cell signal in the valley, and the family searched for Shunghla for nearly two hours before a passerby in a UTV saw the commotion and offered to use the Starlink phone at their cabin on Fish Lake Road to call 911. “, according to the sheriff’s office.
Shortly before 2:00 pm local time, Shunghla was reported missing.
“Sheriff’s deputies immediately launched a search, coordinating with Kittitas County Search and Rescue volunteers,” the sheriff’s office said. “The search area was rugged, rugged, and remote, with dense trees and brush cut by the fast-moving Cle Elum River.”
Search units and rescue teams from at least seven counties and Washington state joined the search, including helicopters from King and Spokane counties.
Aerial view of rescue groups searching for 10-year-old Shunghla Mashwani, reported missing in the Cascade Mountains, Washington. (Credit: Trends Wide)
During the search, the sheriff’s office had the girl’s father record a reassuring message in his native language that was broadcast around the search area, a sheriff’s office spokesperson told Trends Wide. The message told Shunghla that there were people looking for her and trying to help her.
At around 3:00 pm Monday, two KCSR ground crew volunteers, John Sand and Liz Pachaud, found Shunghla alive, with only minor scratches, according to the sheriff’s office.
According to the sheriff’s office, Shunghla had traveled “south about 1.5 miles from where she was last seen, down the west bank of the river. Snohomish County personnel used a rescue inflatable watercraft to bring her back safely.” and saves to the east bank of the river, where he is reunited with his father”.
The Mashwani family came to the US from Afghanistan two years ago and told rescuers they like spending time in the high mountains because it reminds them of home, the sheriff’s office said.
“Shunghla told her family and rescue teams that she found herself suddenly separated and alone as the family headed for the footbridge and was unable to find the bridge on their own,” the sheriff’s office said. “She walked down the river through the dense forest and spent the cold night among some trees. She said that she knew the right thing to do was to follow the river. She proved to be an extraordinarily resourceful and resilient 10-year-old girl.”
Kittitas County is located east of Seattle, Washington.
