An 84-year-old man who went missing in the city’s Elia neighbourhood early Wednesday morning has been found, police said.
A staff sergeant from 31 Division said Umberto Ascenzi was last seen at his home in the Jane Street and Sheppard Avenue West area at about 1 a.m. Wednesday.
Officers mounted a large search involving a command post due to his age and the fact that it was as cold as -18 C in the city on Wednesday morning.
He was located in good condition sometime around 10 a.m. Paramedics assessed him at the scene.
Const. Allyson Douglas-Cook said Ascenzi was found near a transit bus that had stopped in the area of Atkinson Avenue and Dundurn Crescent in Vaughan. That area is more than 12 kilometres or a two and a half-hour walk from his home.
The bus driver recognized him and brought him aboard the bus before calling police.
Speaking with CP24 the bus driver Dominick Gouveia said he saw the man sitting in a bus shelter wearing a thin coat.
“I noticed a cut on his finger and a bruise on one of his eyes so I made him stay with me and tried to get him warmed up and then I said ‘as we drive if you see where you are then let me know’ and he just couldn’t find it,” he said.
“I’m glad that he is safe and with his family – that’s important. For me, it’s not a hero or anything like that it’s just doing what you have to do and I made a friend.”
Sgt. Steve Tedford said he was found with injuries to his fingers, possibly from frostbite.
He said he had contacted Ascenzi's daughter and she was "relieved" that her father was found safe.
