Vancouver police have launched an intensive search for a police firearm after an officer lost the handgun in the city’s Downtown Eastside.

A Sig Sauer P226 pistol with the serial number U778210 was lost during a foot chase Wednesday afternoon near Oppenheimer Park, Const. Jana McGuinness said Thursday.

McGuinness said a man was seen by a witness picking up the firearm, but he has yet to come forward to police.

Anyone who finds the pistol should assume it is loaded and take every precaution to avoid touching it and immediately call 911, McGuinness said.

The firearm was lost in an incident that began around 3 p.m. PT Wednesday after two plainclothes officers saw a drug deal in the north lane of the 300 block of Cordova Street.

McGuinness said the gun was lost during a chase that followed and ended with the arrest of the suspect.