Missing 14-year-old snowmobiler found after overnight search along Utah-Idaho border

NOTE: This story has been updated with the correct age of the snowmobiler. Officials initially reported he was 12 years old.

Update, 5:13 p.m.:

FRANKLIN COUNTY, Idaho (ABC4) — New details have been released on the 14-year-old boy who was found after going missing on Saturday.

After what officials called an “intense and relentless search” for the missing 14-year-old snowmobiler, search and rescue teams from multiple agencies found the boy at around 9 a.m. Sunday morning.

He was found not far from where he was reported to have gone missing, officials said.

“He appeared in what was a surprisingly good condition, after surviving a night and day in the cold, wintery conditions of the Utah and Idaho backcountry,” a press release from the Cache County Sheriff’s Office states. “He was immediately brought to incident command and evaluated by medical personnel for any injuries and help that he may have been in need of.”

The search for the missing boy, which took place in the backcountry of Franklin and Cache County near the Franklin Basin, lasted nearly 24 hours.

“The Cache County Sheriff’s Office would like to express their heartfelt gratitude to all the volunteers who assisted in the finding of this missing young snowmobiler, all who played a pivotal and selfless role in what could be called nothing but a miraculous and bright, happy outcome in finding him alive and well,” the release states. “As snowmobilers and skiers ourselves at the Cache County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue Team, we wish this young man many future safe snowmobile trips with his family and friends.”

“We also encourage all snowmobilers, whenever they enter the backcountry with recreational intentions, that they take emergency preparedness equipment with them, so that in any unlikely event that they find themselves in dangerous or precarious circumstances, they are able to survive until they are found, like this strong young man until he was found.”

Original Story:

FRANKLIN COUNTY, Idaho (ABC4) — A 14-year-old boy who went missing while snowmobiling with a group near the Utah-Idaho border has been found after an overnight search in freezing temperatures, according to the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office.

On Saturday afternoon, Feb. 8, the Cache County Sheriff’s Office received information that a group of people snowmobiling in the Franklin Basin area had not been able to find a member of their party — a 14-year-old boy. The group had reportedly already been searching for over an hour.

The missing 14-year-old had reportedly last been seen on a yellow snowmobile in an area of Franklin County, Idaho, near the Utah border, around two and a half miles southwest of Gibson Basin.

Cache County search and rescue personnel responded to the Franklin Basin Road trailhead in Logan Canyon at around 2:30 p.m. Saturday. Authorities quickly began setting up search areas and deploying search parties.

In collaboration with Franklin County search and rescue teams, these authorities responded “on snowmobiles, OHV snow travel worthy vehicles, Pisten Bully Snow Cats, ski teams and searchers on foot,” in a joint effort to find the missing snowmobiler, according to the Cache County Sheriff’s Office.

Search and rescue teams also deployed a drone fleet to map the area and search for any signs of life, “including heat signatures and yellow snowmobiles, either stationary or moving,” the sheriff’s office stated. “The Utah Department of Public Safety deployed their helicopter to assist in the search, which also is equipped with special tools and gear designed to help in search and rescue operations.”

Authorities also tried to ping the missing boy’s phone, but were unsuccessful in doing so. At around 2 a.m. Sunday morning, Weber County personnel arrived to help with the search. Conditions were described as “artic and snowy,” with temperatures dropping below zero on the mountains.

On Sunday morning, officials with the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that the boy was found. Further details regarding his condition and the circumstances surrounding his rescue have not been made available.

No further information is currently available.