A weekend search for long-missing British actor Julian Sands on Southern California’s massive Mount Baldy was unsuccessful, authorities said.
Sands was reported missing in January after setting out to hike on Mount Baldy, which rises more than 10,000 feet [approx. 3048 metres] east of Los Angeles and was pounded by severe storms during Northern Hemisphere’s winter.
The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said the latest search was conducted Saturday (Sunday in Australia) by more than 80 search-and-rescue volunteers and deputies, two helicopters and drone crews.
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Search teams were flown into remote areas and drones were used to search areas inaccessible to ground crews, the department said in a statement.
“Despite the recent warmer weather, portions of the mountain remain inaccessible due to extreme alpine conditions,” the department said.
“Multiple areas include steep terrain and ravines, which still have 10-plus feet [approx. three metres] of ice and snow.”
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The department said it has conducted eight searches for Sands since January, and there have been eight other unrelated search-and-rescue operations in the Mount Baldy area.
In April, three months after Sands was declared missing, his son spoke out about his father’s disappearance.
“I am hugely appreciative for all the efforts made so far from the volunteer search and rescue climbers and the San Bernardino county sheriff team to bring my father home,” Henry Sands told the Times at the time.
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Weeks earlier, Sands’ brother Nick Sands said he knew “in [his] heart that he [had] gone”.
“He has not yet been declared missing, presumed dead, but I know in my heart that he has gone,” Nick Sands told the UK’s Craven Herald & Pioneer in January.
“However sibling rivalry being what it is, it would be just like him to walk out of there and prove me wrong.”
Sands starred opposite Helena Bonham Carter in the 1985 British romance A Room With a View. He also had major roles in 1989’s Warlock, 1990’s Arachnophobia, 1991′s Naked Lunch, 1993′s Boxing Helena, and 1995’s Leaving Las Vegas.
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