Actor Julian Sands missing for five days in California’s San Gabriel mountains

British actor Julian Sands has been reported missing for five days in the San Gabriel Mountains in California, San Bernardino County sheriff’s spokeswoman Gloria Huerta has confirmed. The actor, who is best known for his roles in the Oscar-nominated movies A Room with a View, The Killing Fields and Leaving Las Vegas, has not been seen since last Friday when he set out on a hike on Mt. Baldy, according to authorities. Sands’ wife, Evgenia Citkowitz, raised the alarm and a search and rescue operation was set in motion.

“Around 7.30pm on Friday, January 13, a hiker was reported missing in the Baldy Bowl area,” San Bernardino County Sheriff Department Corporal Nathan Campos told People magazine. “A search crew was sent out, but because of weather conditions, they were pulled on Saturday. Helicopters and drones will be out there to continue to search, weather permitting.”

“His wife did report him missing. From what I understand he left sometime that day for a hike and when he did not return, his family reported him missing,” Huerta told AP.

Sands, 65, is a keen hiker and told The Guardian in 2020 that he is at his happiest “close to a mountain summit on a glorious cold morning.” In the same interview the actor recalled a harrowing experience while altitude trekking in South America. “In the early 90s, in the Andes, caught in an atrocious storm above 20,000ft with three others. We were all in a very bad way. Some guys close to us perished; we were lucky,” the actor told the UK daily when asked what was the closest he had come to death.

A separate search is also ongoing for a resident of Hawthorne, Bob Gregory, who was also reported missing in the Crystal Lake area of the San Gabriel Mountains on Monday, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s San Dimas station told ABC 7. According to the local authorities, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue teams have been called out 14 times over the past four weeks due to treacherous conditions in the mountains.

“The conditions are too dangerous. In fact, even some of the more experienced hikers are getting themselves into trouble up there so we recommend that people to stay away from that area,” Huerta was quoted by ABC 7 as saying about search and rescue efforts on Wednesday.

The latest in a series of storms that have created dangerous mountain conditions swept into Southern California on Friday and lasted through the weekend. Two other hikers have recently died in the area.

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