Stranded Family Forgotten, Woman Dies

An 19 year-old woman was found dead along a rural Saskatchewan (Canada) road, and three members of her extended family were found barely alive 37 miles away, seven days after the group made a 911 call to an RCMP dispatcher asking for a tow truck to pull their car out of deep mud. The RCMP is defending how the 911 system operates in general, but admits the handling dispatcher might have erred. According to police, Kerri Canepotatoe was driving with her cousin, and her cousin’s two children when the vehicle became stuck west of Meadow Lake. They dialed 911 twice, but neither call was connected. Their third call was answered by the 911 center in Prince Albert, who transferred it to the RCMP in Regina. Police say one of the woman asked for a tow truck and gave her location, but the cellular call was dropped. The dispatcher attempted to contact a tow company for the family, but was “unsuccessful,” RCMP chief Supt. Randy Beck told a radio station. The dispatcher then became involved in handling an emergency incident, and never re-tried to contact the tow company or to call the family back. Beck says both dispatchers believed the incident was not an emergency, and so no police or other emergency units were dispatched. The day after the 911 call began walking for help, but became exhausted along the road and collapsed, 37 miles from the car. Her body was found by a passerby four days later, sparking a search for the three other travelers. They were located on the seventh day after the 911 call, in weak but stable condition. Read more about the incident here, and view a map after the break. Update: In Sept. 2010 the RCMP formally apologized to the family for the dispatcher’s “error.” Read more here.

The map shows approximately where the travelers went off the road, and that it’s a very rural area.