The sisters had vanished on a hiking trip.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: The three sisters who have been missing for days in Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming have been found alive and healthy.
A search team on a helicopter “spotted three individuals matching the description of Megan, Erin, and Kelsi Andrews-Sharer” and they have since been positively identified as the young women, Lori Iverson, the public information officer for the Fish and Wildlife Service, informed ABC News.
Authorities launched a search Wednesday for Megan, 25, Erin, 22, and Kelsi, 16, who had not been heard from for days. The three experienced hikers departed their extended camping trip on June 28 and were supposed to return home Tuesday.
Their black Saturn Vue was found at a trailhead at the nearby Bridger-Teton National Forest on Wednesday, officials said, and the sisters were found approximately 7 miles west of the location.
A plethora of search team members, including rescue dogs, scoured an area covering roughly 150 square miles. The terrain in the region where the sisters were lost features cliffs and heavy tree coverage, which made the search efforts especially difficult, Teton County Sheriff Jim Whalen said, according to ABC.
“They are healthy, fit young women and were well prepared for this trip,” Teton County Sheriff Jim Whalen said in a statement, according to NBC News. “However, despite their experience in the backcountry, they may have simply made a wrong turn.”
With the trio out of the woods, friends and family can breathe a collective sigh of relief. Parishioners at churches in the sisters’ home state had held prayer vigils on Tuesday, hoping for a safe return.
Lauren Buyan, a close friend of one of the sisters, had expressed concern for their safety to ABC.
“They’ve never really backpacked in the wilderness before, at least not this type of rugged wilderness,” she said. “So this would be their first real experience out here, in Wyoming.”