Search escalates for mushroom picker now missing for 6 days

Nineteen search and rescue crews are now working to find a mushroom picker who went missing near Smithers, B.C., almost a week ago.

Frances Brown, 53,was separated from her picking companion Oct.14in a remote and heavily forested area west of Highway 16 between Smithers and Hazelton.

"We have found a number of clues," saidChrisMushumanski, public relations officer with B.C. Search and Rescue. "The search is focused on anarea between threeroads with a creek running down the middle of it."

Brown, a First Nations woman,is said to know the area and has some backcountry experience. She was carrying rain and hiking gear, as well as a lighter.

"There is a lot of forest area where, if somebody hunkered down, they could get out of the elements. The fuel in places is dry and we're continuing to make progress in the search," said Mushumanski.

RCMP said in a release that Brown cannot hear out of one of her ears.

Searchers were slowed by snow and rain earlier in the week but weather has since improved, aiding searchers.

The scale of the effort is the largestin Northern British Columbia in "many, many years" according to Mushumanski.

"Yesterday we had threehelicopters in the air, spotters in the air from [the provincial emergency program], Bulkley Valley amateur radio helping us with communications and the Salvation Army out there cooking hot meals," he said.

"There'sa lot of concerngiven the amount of time that has passed but the search and rescue community continues to get out there and cover the ground thoroughly and safely."