Young runaways found after search

Two boys reported as runaways after disappearing from a Columbia Falls-area school bus stop Tuesday morning were found by search-and-rescue workers that night.

The search for the boys, who are 10 and 11 years old, began after one of their parents told authorities they had not arrived at school.

Brian Heino, Flathead County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue coordinator, said about 18 people — the majority from North Valley Search and Rescue — looked for the boys.

A helicopter contracted by the Sheriff’s Office and piloted by Undersheriff Jordan White led to the discovery of a tent at about 6:13 p.m., but the boys were not inside.

“We found the tent with the aircraft almost immediately,” Heino said.

A subsequent area search by law enforcement and family friends located them in a field just south of Big Sky Waterpark and about four miles from the tent, Heino said.

The boys were found unharmed — but soaked by rain and snow — by Sheriff’s Sgt. Lance Norman at 8:31 p.m.

“They were in good shape,” Heino said. “Both had experience in the woods and that kind of thing.”

They were returned to their parents near Half Moon Road.