5-year-old found safe after wandering into forest near Mission, B.C.

An RCMP helicopter is seen in this image handed out by the Mission detachment.

Mounties in Mission, B.C., say their helicopter was able to spot a small child who wandered into a dense forest during day camp earlier this week.

According to the Mission RCMP, a five-year-old boy was playing hide-and-seek with other children in the Stave Falls area Tuesday when he walked away from the group.

Day camp staff and the child’s parents searched the area for about an hour before calling police for help.

The detachment says it deployed several resources including Mission Search and Rescue, police dogs, an RCMP helicopter and the Integrated Emergency Response Team, who searched the area northwest of Hayward Lake.

About an hour and a half after police were notified, the crew in the helicopter saw the boy standing under a tree near a creek, almost a kilometre away from where he was last seen, Mounties said.

The searchers reunited the child with his parents and police say he was in “good spirits” and uninjured.

Mounties said the incident serves as a reminder to call police quickly when someone goes missing.

“Even little legs can travel a surprisingly far distance in a short amount of time,” said Cpl. Harrison Mohr in a statement Friday. “No one wants to have to report a child as missing, but it’s so important to do so as soon as you realize that you can’t find them – especially somewhere like this, where we had to be aware of potential hazards including the forest, a creek, and the nearby lake. The sooner we can start the search, the more we can narrow down the search area and focus our efforts. Every minute counts.”