‘Spectacular news’: Missing 7-year-old girl in Chilliwack, B.C., found safe

The seven-year-old girl reported missing in Chilliwack on Thursday has been found safe.

The seven-year-old girl reported missing in Chilliwack, B.C., Thursday afternoon has been found alive, police confirmed Friday, roughly 24 hours after her disappearance.

Lily Coursol was reported missing Thursday night, last seen around 4 p.m. in the 50800 block of Winona Road, the Chilliwack RCMP said in a statement.

The rural neighbourhood is near the Chilliwack River and Slesse Park.

“Lily apparently followed her neighbour’s dogs into a wooded area but did not return with them,” police said.

Shortly before 4 p.m. Friday, just a few minutes after police had wrapped up an afternoon news conference on the search for the missing girl, police received word that she had been found safe.

Insp. Jeff Bowerman – acting officer in charge of the Upper Fraser Valley Regional Detachment of the RCMP – shared the “spectacular news” with reporters at a hastily arranged second news conference.

Bowerman said Lily was found “quite a distance from her residence,” but appeared to be “in good health” and able to walk out of the bush with search and rescue crews on her own.

Neighbours say the little girl liked to explore the wooded areas on her street and visit a friend who lived a few doors down, but never strayed far from her home. They say she knew the area quite well, as she frequently goes quadding with her family.

RCMP on scene said searchers had deployed drones to the area Thursday, but the search came up empty.

The search was suspended overnight, and a police roadblock was set up on a street heading into the neighbourhood, as officers searched cars leaving the area.

Efforts to find the girl resumed at first light with dozens of search and rescue personnel heading into a nearby trail where Lily was last seen by a neighbour.

By Friday morning, dozens of volunteers who got wind of Lily’s disappearance had gathered to help search the area.

Abbotsford resident Shara McKinney says she felt compelled to help as her own son had gone missing three years ago.

“I just couldn’t sleep. I had to help this time to try and find their daughter,” said McKinney.

She said the situation is every parent’s worst nightmare.

“It’s hell when you have police looking for your baby all night long and you don’t know where they are, especially at seven years old,” she said.

Chilliwack mother and daughter Roberta and Sierra Sekela joined in the volunteer search effort.

Sierra described the challenging terrain as “very dense, lots of dropoffs.”

“We really tried to do the best that we could, but at the end of the day, it felt overwhelming, and we just prayed that maybe the professionals can take over and really deep dive into that,” she added.

The pair said it’s easy to get lost even if you stick to the main trail.

“It’s very overwhelming, because it’s like a needle in a haystack,” said Roberta. “We’re just looking for something pink, something that looked, you know maybe disturbed.”

Police urged the public to avoid the area to allow emergency responders and investigative teams to operate “without interference.”

“We understand the public’s concern and wanting to help; however, the search consists of difficult terrain and is a heavily wooded area. Untrained personnel in the area will make search efforts more difficult and put others at unnecessary risk,” said UFVRD RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Carmen Kiener.

With files from CTV News Vancouver’s Regan Hasegawa