Tony_Cruz

Press Release from: Klamath Co. Sheriff's Office MISSING CLIMBER REPORTEDLY FOUND ON MCLOUGHLIN June 24th, 2005 9:44 PM Shortly after 5:00 P.M. Friday evening, Klamath County 9-1-1 received a cellular telephone call from a man near the summit of Mt. McLoughlin. The man, Marek Damm, reported that he had located the body of John V. Zazzara, 54, who has been missing for nearly two weeks. Damm, who is from the Bay, area is a serious climber who knew the victim and has been camped near the summit searching for Zazzara since Wednesday night. Klamath County Sheriff Tim Evinger requested a helicopter to be dispatched to the mountain in an attempt to confirm the report. Jackson County Sheriff Mike Winters had a helicopter airborne out of the Rogue Valley within minutes of the request. Tonight, the helicopter crew was able to find and mark the map coordinates of the location of the victim as described by Damm. The crew was still unable to spot the victim. Klamath County Sheriff's Search and Rescue along with the Lane County Search and Rescue Mountain Rescue team had a training exercise planned for first thing Saturday morning. At this point, the mission will transition from a training one to a recovery effort after Damm's report is confirmed. Searchers will attempt to extract the victim by land. If the extraction is determined to be physically impractical or excessively dangerous, a request for the Oregon Army Guard Blackhawk helicopter based in Salem will be made at that time. Damm's initial report is that it appears that Zazzara sustained major injuries when he fell on the south slope of the mountain and slid for some distance down a snow and ice field. It is believed that the victim is in between some rocks and has likely been covered with snow during the past search efforts. ### Contact Info: Sheriff Tim Evinger Mobile 541-891-9734