UPDATE: Powell boy found after getting lost in Big Horns

Posted 8/22/16

Members of the Wyoming National Guard found Benjamin Kellett while searching the Big Horn Mountains in a Blackhawk helicopter, Quintana said.

Benjamin was flown in the Blackhawk to the hospital in Sheridan as a precaution, "but all indications …

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UPDATE: Powell boy found after getting lost in Big Horns

Posted

After an extensive search that started Saturday, a 12-year-old Powell boy was found Sunday night in the Big Horn Mountains.

"We have our Scout back," Robert Quintana of Gillette, council president for the Greater Wyoming Council of the Boy Scouts of America, said Sunday night. 

Members of the Wyoming National Guard found Benjamin Kellett while searching the Big Horn Mountains in a Blackhawk helicopter, Quintana said.

Benjamin was flown in the Blackhawk to the hospital in Sheridan as a precaution, "but all indications are, everything is good, and he is well," Quintana said. "His family will be with him shortly. They are very happy."

Benjamin had been on a hiking and camping outing near Black Mountain Lookout with his Boy Scout unit when he wandered away from the group, Quintana said. That happened around 10 a.m. Saturday, a Sheridan Police dispatch officer told the Powell Tribune Sunday afternoon.

Sheridan County Search and Rescue had led the search with the aid of the U.S. Forest Service, dog teams, helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. Search teams began looking for Benjamin Saturday afternoon and continued Sunday, with several teams on the ground on Sunday evening, Quintana said.

Quintana said three dog teams helped with search on Sunday. Helicopter and fixed-wing aircraft also were utilized Saturday and Sunday and a Blackhawk helicopter from Cheyenne was requested around 4 p.m., he said.

A representative of Sheridan County Search and Rescue referred calls to the Sheridan County Sheriff’s Office. Deputies couldn’t be reached for more information, and Sheriff Dave Hofmeier also was unavailable.

Quintana said he wasn’t on the scene of the search. He and other Boy Scout leaders were “strictly supporting whatever they (searchers and family members) need.”

“Unfortunately, it’s a very stressful and very concerning situation for the kid, for the family, for the unit and the leaders in Scouting,” he had said earlier on Sunday. "We’re very concerned. We’re doing everything for everyone involved as much as we can. We’re worried about this young man and his family and hope he is found safe and well.”

Those hopes were realized not much later, when Benjamin was found by the searchers.

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