(KTLA) – A 78-year-old Malibu man with dementia who went missing in December’s cold weather has been found thanks to infrared thermal imaging technology, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Malibu Search and Rescue Team. That’s what it means.
The man, whose identity has not been released, was reported missing around 7:30 p.m. Monday, three hours after he went to check his mailbox and did not return, officials said on X (formerly Twitter). .
Temperatures have dropped to 48 degrees Celsius, and the man suffers from early-onset dementia, making his disappearance particularly dangerous.
Malibu Search and Rescue used a drone equipped with infrared heat-seeking technology to identify “significant heat signatures” stationary in the brush along the road, authorities said.
“Believing that the fever symptoms were indicative of the missing person, Marib Special Administrative Region personnel were deployed with medical equipment and evacuation equipment,” the official detailed. “Rescue teams arriving at the scene observed the missing man suffering from a cold-related illness, appearing disoriented and unable to walk. The man was examined, wrapped in a blanket and placed in a rescue basket. Ta.”
The man was then treated and taken to an ambulance.
Malibu Search and Rescue concluded, “It was a great job by everyone involved.”
