MARIN COUNTY, Calif. — A married couple who were missing in Northern California for more than a week are recovering after crews found and rescued them Saturday in Tomales Bay State Park.
According to CNN and USA Today, Ian Irwin, 72, and Carol Kiparsky, 77, both of Palo Alto, vanished Feb. 14 while hiking near a vacation home where they were staying. After a multiday search, crews discovered the pair shouting for help in a drainage area near Shell Beach, the outlets reported.
“Carol and Ian have met with both the Marin County Sheriff’s Office and search and rescue team members,” the statement said. “They will be forever grateful for the hard work and dedication put forth by all of the search and rescue volunteers and first responders from all over the Bay Area who searched every day for them.”
The pair, who drank water from a puddle to survive, were transported by helicopter to a nearby hospital and treated for hypothermia, officials said.
The couple’s family issued a statement Sunday thanking rescue workers.
They also asked for privacy “until they are ready to tell the story of how they survived the unimaginable seven nights in the Inverness wilderness,” according to the statement.