15 missing hikers from church group found safe and sound

Fifteen hikers from a church group in California went missing after they failed to return from a weekend hike in the Southern California mountains. Fortunately, they were found safe by helicopter search crew Monday morning.

The hikers were found on the side of a damp mountainside covered in trees and brush by a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department search helicopter. 

Eleven adults and four juveniles, ages 14 to 36, set out in the Eaton Canyon Natural Area on Sunday morning. The group of young adults and teens were canyoneering as part of a church group of 30 people. 

The group started hiking at 9:30 a.m. Sunday, and were reported missing at 9:30 p.m., according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. They were church members of the Seventh Day Adventist church in Huntington Park.

Eaton Canyon is a popular hiking spot in the Angeles National Forest at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains north of Pasadena. 

Since 2011, five people have died in the area. In March 2013, a 17-year-old girl suffered a fatal head injury in a fall from a cliff.

Earlier this year, Los Angeles National Forest officials closed an upper portion of Eaton Canyon above the area's first waterfall after years of hikers falling and becoming seriously injured or dying.

Anyone caught climbing the cliffs above the first waterfall could face jail time and thousands of dollars in fines.