The southeast corner of Makwa Lake is a popular place for swimming, due to its sandy bottom, but the depths change very quickly. (Submitted photo/ Randy Bair)

By Nigel Maxwell

Missing persons

Teams face challenging conditions, as recovery effort continues for six year old boy

Jul 3, 2020 | 12:02 PM

The search for a missing six-year-old boy in northwest Saskatchewan is now entering day 11, and teams are dealing with the grim reality that their mission has become a recovery effort.

The young boy was reported missing June 23rd at Makwa Lake. The Prince Albert Grand Council Search Team is leading the effort. Manager Randy Bair explained he was told the young boy and some friends were swimming in a creek, which feeds the southeast side of the lake.

“It’s a very slow moving creek and very little pull but I guess they got out too far and one boy couldn’t get his little brother back,” he said.

Multiple agencies are involved in the recovery effort including the Lloydminster rescue squad, a K-9 unit from Edmonton, and search groups from Stanley Mission and Grandmother’s Bay. There is also a team from a Manitoba hutterite colony. Bair said the teams are working very well together, and face challenging conditions.

“Right off the sandbar where that little creek runs in is like 40 feet and there’s a little shelf that’s 20 feet deep out there, and it goes right down to like 80 or 90 feet,” he said.

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Bair said as the water warms up over the next few days, it may assist bringing the boy’s body up to the surface. He added the goal on everyone’s mind is giving the family closure.

“I’ve got four kids of my own and if I ever lost one, I would be devastated,” he said.

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nigel.maxwell@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell