As search and rescue crews continue to scour the forest, mountains and waterways of an area near Crowsnest Pass in southwestern Alberta for a missing five-year-old boy, a spokesperson says “there is no talk on the ground of anything other than a positive outcome.”
Adam Kennedy, provincial training manager for Search and Rescue Alberta, said during a media briefing on Tuesday afternoon that there are now 82 search and rescue members from Alberta and British Columbia involved in the ground search for Darius Macdougall, who was discovered missing on Sunday after he failed to return from a walk with other family members near Island Lake Campground, about 250 km south of Calgary.
Adam Kennedy of Alberta Search and Rescue, said search crews are still very, very hopeful the search for a missing 5-year-old boy near Crowsness Pass will have a positive outcome.
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The search has been taking place both day and night, with help from dogs, drones and helicopters, some of them equipped with thermal imaging equipment.
The challenge of finding the little boy is made more difficult because he is autistic, which may prevent him from responding to or calling out to searchers.
To assist searchers, Kennedy said, RCMP and other emergency vehicles have also been parked alongside the roads in the area at night, with sirens and lights activated, hoping to attract the boys attention and “pull him out of the woods towards the road, towards those lights.”
There are now 82 search and rescue members from Alberta and British Columbia now involved in the ground search for a 5-year-old boy who went missing while on a camping trip with his family in southwestern Alberta on Sunday.
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While he couldn’t provide the exact size of the area that is being searched, Kennedy said experts have profiled the distances a person such as the missing boy could travel, but “as time goes on, there’s the potential that young Darius may have left the initial search area, so that search area will continuously be increased.”
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Searchers have described the terrain in the area as a mix of thick forests, mountains and open areas, with multiple creeks and rivers, including some beaver dams and bogs, forcing searchers to work almost shoulder to shoulder to cover the area effectively.
RCMP Cpl. Gina Slaney said the little boy’s family is understandably distraught . Police, Slaney added, have brought in family liaison officers and members of victims services who are working with them.
“The family wants to help,” said Slaney. “So they have been given tasks where they can actually help, at the scene, but within control so that they’re not interfering with the professionals that are on the scene.”
RCMP have issued a photo of 5-year-old Darius Macdougall and are asking the public to keep an eye out for him, but they are also asking people to stay away from the area where the boy went missing on Sunday, to give professional search and rescue crews room to work.
Courtesy: RCMP
The RCMP have also issued a photo of the missing boy and are asking members of the public to keep an eye out for him, or call them with any info about his possible location, but they are also asking people to stay away from the area to give the professionals room to work.
“We are able to to put professionally trained searchers on the ground, which will give us a much higher probability (of) detection per searcher than if we were to use members of the public,” said Kennedy.
“The other avenue is the safety aspect. It is hazardous terrain. We don’t always know the capabilities of the volunteers and there is the potential they become injured and then we have to reroute some of our resources to support that incident as opposed to continuing the search for Darius,” Kennedy added.
To help in the search, the RCMP has been parking vehicles along roads in the area at night, with lights and sirens going, in hopes the little boy will be drawn toward them, and out of the woods.
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While the RCMP said there is no indication that foul play was involved in the boy’s disappearance, they add “all investigational avenues” are being covered.
With nighttime temperatures dipping into the low single digits, searchers admit there is the potential for the young boy to become cold, but still, they remain optimistic.
“It’s not the temperatures we are overly concerned about,” said Kennedy.
“There are some statistics that go behind this as far as survivability. We are still in the stage right now where we are very, very hopeful.”
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