The Canadian Coast Guard has deployed a vessel with an on-water platform to help search the Bay of Fundy for a scallop dragger that went missing two weeks ago.
The coast guard vessel left Dartmouth on Wednesday and should arrive in Digby, N.S., by Friday, according to a release from the Nova Scotia RCMP.
From there, the RCMP’s underwater recovery team will be able to perform sonar exploration in the area in search of the Chief William Saulis.
In a statement from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, it says the CCGS Cape Light is the preferred vessel by the RCMP, “given its configuration and working deck area.”
The Cape Light is expected to provide support over the next few days, weather permitting. If it is unable to complete the work required, the CCGS M. Perley may also sail from Dartmouth on Saturday, when weather conditions are expected to improve.
Debris not definitetively from the Chief William Saulis
The fishing vessel with six men on board sent out an emergency beacon near Delaps Cove, N.S., in the early morning of Dec. 15.
On Tuesday, police said they may have found debris from the ship, but could not say with certainty whether it came from the Chief William Saulis.
Sgt. Andrew Joyce, spokesperson for the Nova Scotia RCMP, told CBC’s Maritime Noon on Wednesday that searchers found what could be pieces of the upper part of the vessel.
“We suspect that it could be based on what we located, like the size of the pieces we’ve recovered, the age of it, that kind of thing. So we believe it to be consistent with the vessel, but at this time it hasn’t been definitively from the lost vessel,” he said.
The search also resumed from the air on Wednesday, from Digby Gut, N.S., to Harbourville, N.S.
RCMP officers are working with the Department of Lands and Forestry to continue searching the coastline by helicopter. No helicopter was available on Tuesday.
Joyce said the ground search remains suspended because of treacherous conditions along the coastline, including ice on the shore, which makes it “too risky to the safety of all involved.”
The body of one crew member, Michael Drake, was recovered the night after the vessel went missing.
The other five men on board, Aaron Cogswell, Leonard Gabriel, Dan Forbes, Eugene Francis and Charles Roberts, the captain of the vessel, have not been found.
Grief, false information a challenge in Yarmouth
For 36 hours after the vessel sank, crews worked around the clock searching the air, sea and land for any clues from the vessel, as families and community members waited for news.
Yarmouth Mayor Pam Mood said it has been a challenging time for her community. Several of the crew members lived there.
She said on top of the grief is the spreading of false information about the search.
Mood said people have even gone so far as to phone family members directly.
“It’s horrific….You’re causing deeper damage to the families, it hurts to the core. It’s just making it worse,” Mood told CBC’s Maritime Noon.
“Stay the heck off of social media unless you’ve got facts.”
Police are also working with the Transportation Safety Board of Canada to inspect the debris that has been found.
Joyce said the main objective now is to pinpoint the Chief William Saulis.
“Our goal of course is to bring the five missing home if they are at rest with the vessel,” he said.
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