Search underway for missing hiker

A search is continuing for a possible lost hiker in the Smith Creek area of Boundary County.

Bourathaphon Inthanthanya, from Redding, Calif., was looking for wild mushrooms in the Smith Creek area Wednesday and did not meet up with his group later that day at the agreed-upon destination.

Inthanthanya was last seen on Wednesday at about 5 p.m. When he did not meet up with the group he was reported as overdue and possibly lost by the rest of the group, said Andrew O'Neel, director of the Boundary County Office of Emergency Management and the county's public information officer.

The Boundary County Sheriff’s Office and Boundary County Search & Dive Rescue immediately began a search for the man and have been conducting a search of the Smith Creek area since Wednesday. Assisting are helicopters from Flathead County, Mont., and Spokane County, Wash.

Searchers have not yet located Inthanthanya, O'Neel said.

Inthanthanya is described as a thin Asian male in his 50s. He was last seen wearing a black jacket with white stripes and jeans.

The man is not the first person to go missing while searching for either mushrooms or huckleberries in the mountains of Boundary County. In July 2022, a man picking huckleberries in the Bethlehem Mine/Camp Nine Road area was lost in the mountains for several days before he was located safe and in good spirits by a rescue helicopter crew from Two-Bear Air Rescue of Kalispell, Mont.

Search crews are not currently asking for search volunteers, however, if anyone has any information about the missing man's location, they are asked to call Boundary County Dispatch at 208-267-3151, extension 0.