The search continues for a United States citizen missing since last Thursday in the desert near San Felipe, Baja California.

Kat Hammontre, 68, was hiking at the entrance of the Diablo Canyon in the San Pedro Mártir Sierra with friends and her dog Tootsie, but grew tired and stopped to rest near a creek.

She told her friends to continue and that she would catch up later, but that was the last time anyone has seen her or her dog.

It wasn’t until later in the day when Hammontre’s friends returned from their hike and spoke with her husband, Warren Sundquist, that they realized she was missing.

Volunteers and Mexicali Civil Protection personnel, the fire department, the army, the Red Cross and five search and rescue dogs mounted a search that revealed two marijuana plantations but no sign of the missing woman.

It is believed that Hammontre cannot have strayed far from her last known whereabouts — where daytime temperatures have been reaching 32 C — due to poor health.

Yesterday evening, state Civil Protection chief Antonio Rosquillas announced the search was being called off and that the case had been turned over the state Attorney General’s Office (PGJE), which will continue to investigate and attempt to locate the missing woman.

“We suspended the search. We combed the area surrounding the spot where she was last seen . . . a five-kilometer perimeter, and we did not find her,” said Rosquillas yesterday evening.

Sundquist posted on Facebook early this morning that he met yesterday with PGJE officials and that he was to travel with them to the Diablo Canyon area today.

He also said he understood that Civil Protection personnel would continue to search after all.

Source: 4 vientos (sp)