Family Looks ‘for a Miracle’ : Searchers Turn Up No Clues in Effort to Find Man Swept Away in Rains

As rescue teams searched unsuccessfully Friday for an Anaheim Hills man who disappeared Monday night after flood waters swept his car into a gushing creek, downcast family members clung to the hope he was still alive.

Sadi Saeid Mosaferi, a 44-year-old auto mechanic, was last seen Monday afternoon before he closed his repair shop to go home to be with his wife and 6-year-old daughter.

“Today we are looking for a miracle,” said Mosaferi’s cousin Ali Farahmand, 38, who was covered in mud and has spent the last several days searching for his cousin.

Farahmand and about a dozen family members started their search at dawn Friday where Chino Creek crosses Pine Avenue and winds for five miles through the El Prado Golf Course. Family members flew in from across the country to help look for Mosaferi.

By 4 p.m., though, officials from San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, which led the operation, called off the search. They plan to resume the effort at 6 a.m. today.

“We are hoping that he is either unconscious with a heartbeat, or that he is out in the street with amnesia,” said Mosaferi’s brother-in-law Fred Kiasi, 33, who added that he once experienced amnesia after a car accident several years ago.

Earlier in the day, investigators tried to console Mosaferi’s family with the notion that surviving exposure in Southern California weather--despite the recent rains--was not impossible. However, by the end of the day, the same investigators were doubtful that the 5-foot, 3-inch man had survived.

“Our speculation is that he was swept away during the downpour. . . . It’s very unlikely he is still alive,” said San Bernardino Sheriff’s Deputy Rudy Vuittonet.

Mosaferi’s 1985 gray Volvo sedan was found submerged near the creek’s north bank about 100 yards from the road. The back window had been smashed and the key was still in the ignition. Family members said Mosaferi was planning to visit his mother next week in his native Iran, which he left in 1986 with his wife, Shahin Kiasi-Mosaferi.

Some family members expressed frustration that authorities did not launch a search for Mosaferi immediately after his car was discovered.

San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Cpl. Bill Fertig said weather conditions made it too dangerous to send out search teams earlier than Thursday. Because of the rain this week, the creek water level was perilously high. Furthermore, he said, the runoff water from nearby dairy farms also may have contaminated the creek, posing an additional threat to the searchers.

Family members ignored the dangers and searched for Mosaferi as soon as his car discovered.

The serenity of the plush green golf course and creek clashed sharply with the serious nature of Friday’s search, which was conducted in the air and on the ground.

Two San Bernardino County sheriff’s helicopters traced the brush-lined banks of the creek, which was littered with trash and debris because of the rain runoff. Meanwhile, parties of volunteers and rescuers were led in their search by two dogs--a Doberman and a collie--that are specially trained to track the scents of cadavers, as well as pick up trails in water.

Tom Pachuco, who has worked at the golf course for 19 years and volunteered in the search the first two days, said dangerous flooding at the creek during rainy season is not uncommon. In fact, a street sign warns drivers of possible flooding in that particular spot.

“When you’re driving down that road and it’s flooded, it looks like it’s flat and goes straight. If you don’t know there a dip where the road meets the creek, you can get hurt,” said Pachuco, 47.

“I’ve seen at least a half a dozen other cars fall in the creek since I’ve been here,” said Pachuco, who himself had been nearly been swept into the creek with a pickup truck. “There should be barricades to block cars from falling in.”