RCMP said Wednesday the search is continuing in full force for a five-year-old Lethbridge boy who has been missing since Sunday. Read More
Darius is described as four feet tall with short brown hair. He was last seen wearing a blue/grey hoodie and sweatpants
Darius is described as four feet tall with short brown hair. He was last seen wearing a blue/grey hoodie and sweatpants
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RCMP said Wednesday the search is continuing in full force for a five-year-old Lethbridge boy who has been missing since Sunday.
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Darius Macdougall was last seen Sunday morning, when he went for a walk with six family members, none of whom were adults, four kilometres south of Crowsnest Pass near Island Lake Campground. He was reported missing around 11:30 a.m. Sunday.
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Since then, search and rescue teams have scoured the area looking for the boy, with about 100 people involved in the search, in one way or another, on Wednesday.
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RCMP spokesperson Gina Slaney said Mounties had drones, a helicopter, forensic identification services, divers and investigators on scene Wednesday, and the RCMP plane was on the way.
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Adam Kennedy with Alberta Search and Rescue said Wednesday search teams expanded into new areas and again covered some previous search areas. The current search radius is three kilometres from the campsite and is gradually widening to 6.6 kilometres.
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Overnight Tuesday, ground teams continued to look for Macdougall, with the support of one RCMP helicopter and two search and rescue dogs from the Canadian Search Dog Association.
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On Wednesday, search teams from Alberta and British Columbia worked alongside two RCMP dog teams, one helicopter and multiple drones.
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“After consultation with two Canadian wilderness survivability physicians, the search effort and tempo reflects our continued hope and assumption that Darius will be found alive,” said Kennedy.
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Swift water teams searched some waterways again Wedneday, some for the third time, to ensure nothing was missing. An underwater team also did a search and, with the water clear, was “quite certain that Darius was not in there,” said Kennedy.
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With the amount of deadfall and rocks in the area, those looking for Darius are slowed down as they conduct their searches, said Kennedy.
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Slaney said Darius, who is autistic, is verbal, but there are concerns he might not interact well with people calling out his name.
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“That’s taken into consideration, in that if he hears the search and rescue personnel calling out his name, he might not answer. That’s definitely a concern we’re worried about,” said Slaney.