The head of the search-and-rescue team looking for signs of two young children who went missing in rural Nova Scotia a month ago said searchers have not found any new evidence as of Sunday afternoon, which marked the second day in the renewed search in the dense woods near their rural home.
The search for four-year-old Jack Sullivan and his six-year-old sister Lilly Sullivan, who were reported missing from their home in Lansdowne Station on May 2, resumed this weekend for two days of targeted searching.
Amy Hansen, Colchester County ground search-and-rescue manager, said this weekend’s search is focused on the Gairloch Road area — near where the children lived — and along a nearby “pipeline trail,” where a small boot print was previously found.
“We’re continuing to search up that pipeline, we’re trying to cover more areas and hope that we find something,” she said in an interview Sunday.
Searchers hadn’t uncovered anything new by mid-afternoon, Hansen said. An RCMP spokesperson said in an email Sunday police will provide an update if there is any significant search finding.
Hansen said the team of searchers are working hard to move through the rough and densely wooded terrain packed with thick brush and downed trees from post-tropical storm Fiona, which hit the region in 2022.
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“Some counties in the province, it’s quite easy to get in there and do grid searching. But unfortunately Pictou County is not one of them. It’s very, very hard and it’s very slow going. Teams have to be very close together to be able to cover the area properly,” she said.
A crew of about 75 first resumed the search in rainy conditions on Saturday, alongside three drones and seven drone operators. Heavy winds and an incoming geomagnetic storm kept drones on the ground on Sunday, Hansen said.
The initial, widespread search-and-rescue effort was scaled back May 7, and the search this weekend marks the second time ground search teams have been asked to return to focus on specific areas.
When the first search ended, RCMP said they did not expect to find the children alive in the surrounding woods. But they said searching would resume if they received fresh information.
Hansen said there will be a discussion with the RCMP after Sunday’s search efforts conclude to decide if a third search is needed.
“I’m sure they’ll be calling us back in at some point. But right now, once we suspend this evening, it’s a conversation that’s going to have to be had down the road between the search-and-rescue and the RCMP and investigators,” she said.
The search manager said the work of the search-and-rescue teams, many of whom are volunteers, has been gruelling.
“What the people that are here are putting themselves through, the stress levels and the exhaustion … being in the woods pushing through all this brush so close together so they can see everything for hours on end … the effort that’s going in is unreal,” she said.
Investigators have confirmed the RCMP’s major crimes unit has been involved in the case since May 3, which is routine for missing persons cases. On May 13, the Mounties said they had received more than 180 tips from the public. The police force said officers had interviewed community members and family members.
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