Blackey was missing, along with his owner Sisophia Va. | Photo courtesy of Michael Chansavang

Though her family is urging them to continue searching, emergency personnel will make an early morning attempt at finding a Washington woman on Thursday.

But after nearly six days, if they're unsuccessful, they'll likely call off the search, Del Norte County Sheriff Garrett Scott told the Wild Rivers Outpost at about 4:30 p.m. Wednesday. The DNSO will continue to keep an eye on the area between French Hill Road and U.S. 199 where the woman is believed to be, however, Scott said.

According to Scott, the missing woman’s name as it appears on her driver’s license is Sisophia Va and she’s 71-year-old.

According to her son-in-law, David Lim, her family knows her as Vana Chansavang. Her son, Michael Chansavang, has been in Gasquet with his wife assisting in the search, Lim told the Outpost via Instagram Messenger on Wednesday.

“They’re just flying helicopters out of formality sake,” Michael Chansavang said through Lim. “We asked for a team on foot. But they said, ‘No, only if they see something and we have to send men in.’ But I think they are thinking that Vana is not alive anymore, so they are going in to get her body.”

The sheriff has estimated that a total of 200 searchers from various agencies have been helping look for Va since her husband reported her and their adult daughter missing at about 8 p.m. Friday.

According to Scott, a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter rescued the 44-year-old daughter at about 2 p.m. Saturday.

“She had hypothermia to the point that she was in the ICU for three days and we’re at day five,” Scott said of the daughter. “There’s actually snow under the brush in that area. There’s been severe rain and hail several of the nights.”

According to Lim, though an infrared camera on a CalOES plane spotted a heat signature belonging to Va’s dog Blackey, her son was the one who actually found the animal. The dog wasn’t injured, according to Lim, which leads him to believe his mother-in-law is still alive.

“If searching stops, you are leaving her to pretty much die,” Lim told the Outpost.

Scott, however, said an animal can survive much longer than a human “in those elements.” Va was wearing a rain jacket and regular jeans, he said, and since she’s without a cell phone, there’s no way for people to identify where she’s at.

Scott also pointed out that two of Search & Rescue crew were injured while searching for Va and had to spend the night on Tuesday because it was getting dark and the terrain is too difficult to navigate. One of the search party is still in the hospital, Scott said.

“My search team that spent the night last night said there is no way we would have survived two nights,” the sheriff told the Outpost. “After you exhaust so many resources and the amount of man hours and air time, there’s a certain point where you do have to make that really tough call to call off the search. That’s a very difficult thing to do especially when family’s there. But we will be up there tomorrow checking some more.”

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