Search resumes for Julian Sands five months after actor vanished

CALIFORNIA, US - The search for British actor Julian Sands - missing since January on California's Mt. Baldy - resumed over the weekend with warmer weather and additional snow melt, but there was still no sign of the actor five months later.

More than 80 search and rescue volunteers, deputies and staff, along with two helicopters and drone crews continued ongoing search efforts Saturday in the Mount Baldy wilderness for missing hiker Julian Sands. Unfortunately Sands was not located, the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department said in a statement, according to United Press International (UPI).

While search crews hoped that the warmer weather would provide better access than the previous eight searches since January, portions of the mountain remained inaccessible due to extreme alpine conditions.

Multiple areas include steep terrain and ravines, which still have 10 plus feet of ice and snow, the sheriff's department said, as it shared videos on Twitter of the helicopters and crews involved in Saturday's search.

Sands, 65, who has appeared in more than 150 motion pictures and television shows including The Killing Fields, A Room with a View and Arachnophobia, was reported missing on Jan 13.

The actor is an avid mountaineer and is believed to be somewhere along the Baldy Bowl Trail in the area of Mt. Baldy, which is a 10,000-foot peak. In January, the sheriff's department said it had to rescue 14 hikers from the area, including two who later died, due to dangerous winter conditions.

Rescue crews plan to continue searching for the missing actor in a limited capacity, according to the department which said it has completed eight ground and air searches for Sand. Volunteers have spent more than 500 hours searching for the actor. - BERNAMA-UPI