No Sign Of Missing Woman During Fort Funston Cliff Collapse Search
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- An intense search by an excavator, front end loader and cadaver dogs has failed to locate the body of a woman who was buried under tons of debris after a cliff collapse at Fort Funston last week.
Kyra Sunshine Scarlet was walking with a friend and her dog walking up from the beach below the cliff when the landslide happened on Feb. 22nd. The dog and her friend survived, but Scarlet was buried under the debris.
San Francisco firefighters raced to the scene and began frantically digging with their hands and shovels for hours before being forced to abandon the search by a high tide that sent waves crashing onto the beach.
On Friday, officials with the Golden Gate National Recreation Area confirmed that a renewed search effort for Scarlet had concluded without finding any trace of her body.
"(The search teams have) exhausted all possible actions," GGNRA officials said, adding that there was a "high probability that the woman's body was taken out to sea by high tide."
According to the city's medical examiner's office, the woman's death has not been confirmed and her identity was not released. But family members confirmed her identity to the media and posted a GoFundMe account.
"The only solace is she was with her friend and dog on a beach with a view of an ocean, which was her happy place," according to a statement posted on the site.
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Witnesses have told fire officials they saw the victim, who was with her dog and another women, climbing up the 80-foot cliff around 2:30 p.m. The women were about halfway up when the cliff started caving in on top of them.
Bystanders pulled out one woman and began frantically digging for the other but were unsuccessful.
The woman who was rescued did not have serious injuries, and the dog was uninjured, according to fire officials.
Stormy conditions earlier this week hampered the search effort, which included the use of heavy machinery, shovels and search dogs, GGNRA officials said.
Thursday and Friday, NPA officials used a 60-foot boom excavator and front end loader to "carefully and methodically" remove debris at the base of the bluff. Cadaver dogs also assisted in Friday's search with no result.
Fort Funston is part of the federal Golden Gate National Recreation Area and is about 10 miles south of the Golden Gate Bridge.
