Alberta rescue crews adjust search tactics for missing boy after his chance of survival plummets

The tactics being used to search for 6-year-old Darius Macdougall are being adjusted after his family was informed he has a less than five per cent chance of survival, rescue crews say.

RCMP information officer Cpl. Gina Slaney says officers spoke with the family about the child’s survivability concerns, taking into consideration the terrain, exposure to the elements, and how long it has taken.

“With regards to the search, the survivability is less than five per cent,” she said in a video conference with the media.

“Unfortunately, that conversation was had with the family today, and they understand how we came to that number.”

She says the determination included using everything from what Darius was wearing, his health status, the date he went missing, the terrain, and the weather over the last few days.

The rescue operation also analyzed a data set of thousands of searches and then matched that with Darius’ condition to determine his chance of survival.

No evidence has been found on day seven of the search, including any evidence of foul play.

There are no plans to scale back the search and reduce resources, with Slaney saying the search is being approached “differently.

“Rather, we are refocusing so some things will change, but this does not mean that we’re scaling back. We are still out there in full force searching,” she said.

Adam Kennedy with Search and Rescue Alberta (SARA) says that means some tactics will be changed, including their ground search methods.

“It will change the use of some of the infrared technologies on the assumption that the infrared technologies won’t be picking up any heat signatures on the ground,” he said.

“That’s the biggest change right now, changing from using the infrared to solely cameras to search the ground.”

The search dogs in use are also effective for locating a live subject, but Kennedy said the current situation has changed the use of the dogs.

He also confirmed that Darius’ family was camped south of Highway 3 in the Livingstone Public Land Use Zone, down Tent Mountain Road, when he went missing. The spot is south of the Island Lake Campground and Provincial Recreation Area between Crowsnest Pass and Sparwood, B.C.

Kennedy explained the terrain is quite rugged, and temperatures have dropped to single digits at night and into the teens during the day.

“It is very mountainous. It’s very, very hilly, a lot of elevation change in the search area, a lot of depth fall on the ground, multiple streams and creeks in the area,” he said.

There are over 200 personnel continuing their search for Darius, 128 being Search and Rescue volunteers from across Alberta, British Columbia, and Saskatchewan.