As the search for two missing Pictou County children enters its third day, the RCMP officer overseeing the search efforts says foggy conditions Sunday both help and hinder their work.
Lily Sullivan, 6, and Jack Sullivan, 4, were last seen Friday on Gairloch Road in Lansdowne Station, about 20 kilometres southwest of New Glasgow, N.S.
RCMP Staff Sgt. Josh Wiese, who is leading the ground search and rescue operations, says fog gets in the way of drones and helicopters, but the cooler conditions help the searchers, who already face challenging conditions.
“It’s exhausting,” he said. “There’s ticks, there’s the blackflies are coming out. The temperature in the morning begins cool and then a wall of humidity just moved in [Saturday]. That takes a toll on people.
“So there’s heat exhaustion people are getting treated for, there’s tick bites, there’s bug bites, there’s scratches and pokes from branches and twisted ankles, so on top of managing the search, you have to manage the searchers as well.”
Wiese is hopeful the fog will burn off.
Lily has shoulder-length light brown hair with bangs. RCMP said she might be wearing a pink sweater, pink pants and pink boots. Jack has short blondish hair. He was wearing blue dinosaur boots.
Wiese said around 50 searchers, several police dogs and eight drone units looked for the children through the night.
He said the search effort doesn’t stop, with teams rotating in and out. Wiese said there will be around 120 searchers Sunday, just like Saturday.
“There’s no cellular service, which adds to all of the issues and the safety issues that we have for the searchers and everybody’s pulling for the one goal: they want to find these two little kids as fast as possible,” said Wiese.
He said members of the public can help with the search effort by checking sheds, culverts and ditches on their properties.
“That’s the thing to check, but we just don’t have the capacity to accept walk-up volunteers,” said Wiese. “This is a very managed search.”
Anyone with information about the children is urged to call Pictou County District RCMP at 902-485-4333.
