Authorities in Alberta said Sunday that Darius Macdougall, a six-year-old boy who went missing one week ago while on a walk with family members in the Crowsnest Pass in southwest Alberta, has not been found.
On Sunday afternoon, during a press conference, RCMP Cpl. According to Gina Slaney, the agency met with Macdougall’s family this morning to talk about “survivability” in light of the “terrain, exposure to the elements, and amount of time that this search has gone on” since the boy vanished. “At the point we are at, the survivability is less than five per cent,” Slaney said, adding that specific search tactics are changing as efforts to locate Macdougall continue.Adam Kennedy from Search and Rescue Alberta (SAR) said, “Given this unfortunate stage of the search, some tactics will be changed and ground search methods will be adjusted to reflect this.”“ In addition, strategies for previously engaged assets, such as infrared-equipped air assets, will be altered. According to Kennedy, there were approximately 200 people on the scene on Sunday, including approximately 100 SAR volunteers and surface and underwater search assets present to re-search previously covered areas. “Anytime decisions like this have to be made and that consideration is taken, there are multiple different factors that go into it,” Kennedy said.Those factors, he added, include Darius’ health status when he went missing, the local terrain, the potential impact of weather and a major statistical analysis.
Rescue teams analyzed thousands of data points from of other search cases, particularly those with similarities to Macdougall’s, to determine his chances of survival.
Alberta RCMP say missing 6-year-old boy has less than 5% chance of survival
