Search efforts for British actor Julian Sands resume, sheriff's office says
Search efforts for British actor Julian Sands resumed on Saturday, months after he went missing in the Southern California mountains, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said.
More than 80 search and rescue volunteers, deputies and staff searched for Sands, but he was not found, the sheriff's office said.
Authorities said search teams, two helicopters and a drone crew, looked in remote areas in Mount Baldy for the actor.
Drones searched in areas unreachable by people searching on the ground, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.
Sands, 65, was reported missing by his family on Jan. 13 in the Mount Baldy Bowl area of the San Gabriel Mountains outside Los Angeles.
The actor went missing when snowy, windy and icy weather on Mount Baldy possibly posed a challenge for hikers, with the sheriff's department saying in January the conditions were “adverse and extremely dangerous.”
"Despite the recent warmer weather, portions of the mountain remain inaccessible due to extreme alpine conditions," the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said in an advisory announcing the continued search efforts.
Many parts of the area contain sleep terrain and ravines, which has over 10 feet of ice and snow, according to the sheriff's department.
The sheriff's department conducted eight ground and air searches for Sands since January, with volunteers logging in more than 500 hours in search efforts, authorities said.
Sands' missing person case is still active and the search for the actor will continue in a limited scope, the sheriff's department said.
Another hiker, Bob Gregory of Hawthorne, California, was reported missing at the same time as Sands. Gregory's body was found in the San Gabriel Mountains in February, according to ABC News Los Angeles station KABC.
Born in England, the missing Sands had been residing in the North Hollywood area after making dozens of appearances in both television and movies since the 1980s.
Highlights include his role as George Emerson -- opposite Helena Bonham-Carter’s Lucy -- in the 1985 Academy Award-winning drama "A Room with a View." Sands also starred in "Warlock," "Leaving Las Vegas" and a 1998 adaptation of “The Phantom of the Opera” as the title character.
ABC News' Caleigh Bartash contributed to this report.
