Myrna Burgess was found safe just after 9:30 p.m. Wednesday

A happy ending in the search for a missing 81-year-old woman.

Myrna Burgess was found safe near Ship Habour at around 9:30 p.m. Wednesday.

"She was happy, she was alert. She did require medical attention and was taken to hospital just due to health concerns that she had," RCMP Cpl. Dal Hutchinson told NEWS 95.7's The Rick Howe Show. "She's resting comfortably right now and back with family.

Burgess and a family member, an 83-year-old man, had visited Porters Lake Provincial Park Monday.

They went for a drive, got a flat tire and spent the night sleeping in their Dodge Caravan.

Around noon Tuesday, the man left Myrna with the car on an unknown road in a wooded area and walked off to get help.

After several hours, he was able to find people willing to assist him, but they weren't able to locate where he left Myrna and the vehicle. They called police just before 1:30 a.m. Wednesday.

The man was taken to hospital and released.

"Being confined and stuck with her vehicle for the length of time she was there by herself, I can't even imagine what she must have been going through and what she must have felt," said Hutchinson.

A Department of Natural Resources helicopter was used in the search of a vast swath of land from Murchyville Road in the Musquodoboit Valley area to Porters Lake Provincial Park, but it was Ground Search and Rescue crews on ATVs who eventually found Burgess.

Hutchinson said Nova Scotia is lucky to have a well trained search and rescue volunteers.

"There were several of them out at the search site yesterday on ATVs and they were searching on foot," he said. "When I left the scene late yesterday afternoon, there were several vehicles going to the scene with Ground Search and Rescue plates on their vehicles. They came from all over the province to help."