California's San Bernadino County Sheriff's Office has announced that human remains were discovered Saturday in the Mount Baldy Wilderness Area where actor Julian Sands went missing five months ago.

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"Civilian hikers contacted the Fontana Sheriff's Station after they discovered human remains in the Mt. Baldy wilderness. Fontana Station deputies, along with the Sheriff's Department's Emergency Operations Division, responded to the scene," the sheriff's department said in a statement Saturday night.

"The decedent was transported to the Coroner's Office, pending positive identification. Identification should be completed next week at which time we will update this press release. No further details are available at this time."

The 65-year-old British actor went missing while hiking in the area in January.

A search for him resumed last weekend as the weather improved.

Sands has appeared in more than 150 movies and television shows including The Killing Fields, A Room with a View, Warlock, Boxing Helena, Arachnophobia, 24 and Smallville.

His family released a statement Friday, saying they are "deeply grateful to the search teams and coordinators who have worked tirelessly to find Julian."

"We continue to hold Julian in our hearts, with bright memories of him as a wonderful father, husband, explorer, lover of the natural world and the arts, and as an original and collaborative performer," the statement said.