The Royal Canadian Mounted Police has dispatched a team of police divers to help in the search for four hunters missing in the wilderness of northeastern Alberta.
The four men, all experienced outdoorsmen from the First Nation community Fort Chipewyan, left the community on Sunday for a short hunting trip on the river, north of the community.
Walter Ladouceur, Andrew Ladouceur, Keith Marten and Keanan Cardinal were heading to a nearby area known as Devil’s Gate.
Their boat was later found in the Rocher River that flows through Wood Buffalo National Park.
Earlier this week, more than 70 people took part in the search which included three helicopters and volunteers from the Mikisew Cree and Athabasca Chipewyan First Nations.
On Wednesday afternoon officials said the search had become a search and recovery operation.
Leona Lepine, the sister of Andrew and Walter Ladouceur, told CBC News she’s “still praying and hoping for a positive outcome.”
“They’re bushmen,” she said. “They learned from the best. They can survive the bush, and that’s why my mom is so, so positive that they’re coming home.
“Because no matter where they went, no matter how rough the waters were, no matter how dark it was, they always made it home. And she said her boys are going to come home, so we’re keeping the faith.”
The dive team from British Columbia was expected to arrive in the area north of Fort Chipewyan Thursday afternoon.
Police said the divers would work with boats equipped with sonar to search beneath the surface of the Rocher River.
A map of the Rocher River hangs in a staging tent at the mouth of the river. It shows the location of the boat and debris found along the coastline. (Mitch Wiles/CBC)
With files from CBC News reporters Loren McGinnis, Mitch Wiles
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