{"id":39124,"date":"2022-08-02T22:44:08","date_gmt":"2022-08-03T04:44:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/search-and-rescue-mission-for-missing-utah-man-suspended\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T02:48:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:48:08","slug":"search-and-rescue-mission-for-missing-utah-man-suspended","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/search-and-rescue-mission-for-missing-utah-man-suspended\/","title":{"rendered":"Search and rescue mission for missing Utah man suspended"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Search
Search and rescue crews spent seven days searching for Daniel Lamthach, 22, who had been missing for 12 days as of Thursday. Operations were temporarily suspended on Wednesday because of flash-flood watches issued by the National Weather Service. (Courtesy of San Juan County Office of Emergency Management)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The San Juan County Office of Emergency Management announced Monday that a search and rescue mission to find a Salt Lake City man lost in the Molas Lake area has been suspended until further notice.<\/p>\n

Daniel Lamthach, 22, went missing July 17 after going on a day hike in the Molas Lake area. His phone was found by hikers and his car was discovered by the San Juan County Sheriff\u2019s Office, according to the Office of Emergency Management.<\/p>\n

About 11 agencies participated in the search and rescue, including Lifeguard 5 out of Durango, Grizzly Peak Fire Team, District Helitack Team, Colorado Search and Rescue, and La Plata County Search & Rescue.<\/p>\n

\"Daniel
Daniel Lamthach, 22, of Salt Lake City, has been missing since July 17, according to San Juan County Office of Emergency Management. (Courtesy of San Juan Office of Emergency Management)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Deanne Gallegos, spokeswoman for emergency management, said until new information becomes available, the search for Lamthach is on hold.<\/p>\n

Search and rescue teams have dealt with \u201ctreacherous, arduous, rugged\u201d terrain in the Molas Lake area, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was lightning and thunderstorms and hail and cold temperatures at night,\u201d she said. \u201cFlash floods and high waters. It was very treacherous, wilderness terrain.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lamthach\u2019s vehicle was the first sign of the man the Sheriff\u2019s Office found after he had been reported missing, she said.<\/p>\n

Just a few days earlier, on July 18, hikers found a cellphone on the Elk Creek Trail at the Vestal Peak trail confluence, about 3\u00bd miles from the Animas River, that was later determined to belong to Lamthach, she said.<\/p>\n

Search and rescue crews have been working in the Trinity Peaks area, \u201cone of the most remote and rugged backcountry wilderness terrain (areas) within the San Juans,\u201d Gallegos said.<\/p>\n

Lamthach is described as having long black hair, being about 5 feet 4 inches tall, weighing 130 pounds and wearing glasses.<\/p>\n

A concerned friend of Lamthach\u2019s reported his absence to the San Juan County Sheriff\u2019s Office on July 21. On July 17, the last time Lamthach was seen, he had decided to go on a day hike, although he was unprepared for an overnight stay in the wilderness, according to a news release.<\/p>\n

Wildland safety<\/div>\n

Gallegos reminded people to plan accordingly and notify friends or family of plans before venturing into the backcountry.<\/p>\n

She said having someone aware of plans could make a world of difference.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou simply need to have a travel plan,\u201d she said \u201cYou must communicate with friends, family or neighbors where you are going, when you\u2019re going, when you expect to be out, and last but not least, what to do if you don\u2019t hit those time markers.\u201d<\/p>\n

She suggested leaving a note on the dashboard of the car after parking and venturing into the wilderness.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first thing the sheriff\u2019s department does is find the vehicle,\u201d she said. \u201cAt the visitor\u2019s center, we have a rule there. \u2026 We want the information in the dash.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a news release last week, San Juan County Undersheriff Steve Lowrance said members of the public might feel moved to aid in search and rescue efforts, but uncoordinated search operations can do more harm than good. He urged people to allow professionals to conduct searches.<\/p>\n

Gallegos said even though active searches have been postponed, search and rescue teams are seeking information about Lamthach\u2019s whereabouts and will resume the search if they get a lead.<\/p>\n

cburney@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Indefinite hold put on efforts after no trace found of Daniel Lamthach<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39125,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[364,28,1130,3437,1310,1562],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-39124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-community","tag-headlines","tag-missing-person","tag-mountaineering","tag-safety-of-citizens","tag-san-juan-county-colorado"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39124"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39124\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84228,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39124\/revisions\/84228"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39124"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=39124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}