A B.C. volunteer search-and-rescue team says it believes it is the first in the province, and likely in Canada, to use a portable cell tower on a helicopter as part of a rescue operation.

North Shore Rescue (NSR) said it was called to assist Nanaimo SAR on Friday morning, after a man reportedly went off his e-bike the previous day and had not returned.

Rescuers were told that there had been some contact with the man's cellphone, but his exact latitude and longitude weren't known.

That's when they deployed the recently-acquired LifeSeeker unit, which had been installed on one of their helicopters. It functions like a portable cell tower and helps locate cellphones in the backcountry, where there would otherwise be no signal.