Northern Alberta search and rescue crews looking for missing canoer
RCMP officers are searching the Athabasca River in northeast Alberta for a missing canoer last seen around 12:15 p.m. on Saturday.
According to Mounties, a group of six canoers and a kayaker were on the Ells River, north of Fort MacKay, Alta., and near Daphne Island, for around an hour when the group lost sight of a pair of canoers together in a red 16-foot canoe.
Wood Buffalo RCMP conducted a boat and aerial search with the assistance of Fort McMurray Search and Rescue, Fort McMurray EMS, the Helicopter Emergency Response Organization (HERO), and Syncrude Search and Rescue. Area community members completed additional ground searches.
At 4:15 p.m., searchers located the over-turned red canoe and the body of one of the missing boaters, an 80-year-old man, police said.
The search continues for the other canoer, a 45-year-old man. Both of the boaters in the red canoe were from Fort McMurray.
"Search efforts are continuing with the support of Civil Air Search and Rescue (CASARA) from Edmonton and the RCMP Air Service to search for the other missing boater," police said in a statement Monday.
According to Cst. Patrick Lambert, the search area has been expanded by 100 kilometres and now includes sections of the Athabasca River due to the current and higher river levels.
Police are asking anyone on the river to make room for search teams and be aware of any signs of the missing boater, who was wearing an orange personal floatation device.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Wood Buffalo RCMP at 780-788-4040 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477. Tips can also be submitted online.
Fort MacKay is approximately 54 kilometres north of Fort McMurray.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Invasive and toxic hammerhead worms make themselves at home in Ontario
Ontario is now home to an invasive and toxic worm species that can grow up to three feet long and can be dangerous to small animals and pets.
Opinion I just don't get Taylor Swift
It's one thing to say you like Taylor Swift and her music, but don't blame CNN's AJ Willingham's when she says she just 'doesn't get' the global phenomenon.
Haida elder suing Catholic Church and priest, hopes for 'healing and reconciliation'
The lawyer for a residential school survivor leading a proposed class-action defamation lawsuit against the Catholic Church over residential schools says the court action is a last resort.
Decoy bear used to catch man who illegally killed a grizzly, B.C. conservation officers say
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
Tornadoes collapse buildings and level homes in Nebraska and Iowa
Tornadoes wreaked havoc Friday in the Midwest, causing a building to collapse with dozens of people inside and destroying and damaging hundreds of homes, many around Omaha, Neb.
Last letters of pioneering climber who died on Everest reveal dark side of mountaineering
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
It's 30 years since apartheid ended. South Africa's celebrations are set against growing discontent
South Africa marked 30 years since the end of apartheid and the birth of its democracy with a ceremony in the capital Saturday that included a 21-gun salute and the waving of the nation's multicolored flag.
Britney Spears settles long-running legal dispute with estranged father, finally bringing ultimate end to conservatorship
Britney Spears has reached a settlement with her estranged father more than two years after the court-ordered termination of a conservatorship that had given him control of her life, their attorneys said.
Loud boom in Hamilton caused by propane tank, police say
A loud explosion was heard across Hamilton on Friday after a propane tank was accidentally destroyed and detonated at a local scrap metal yard, police say.