BURLINGTON, N.S. — A missing four-year-old boy was found alive and well following a frantic hour-long search on Thursday afternoon on Red Bank Road.
The call came in for help at 2:44 p.m.
“We received a call and the caretaker of the child reported that they lost sight of the child,” said Staff Sgt. Cory Bushell, of the West Hants RCMP detachment.
“When the child’s name was called, they weren’t responding,” he said.
Police responded and immediately engaged local fire crews, ground search and rescue members, a police service dog and handler, plus called upon DNR for use of their helicopter.
“Anytime a child goes missing, it is imperative that emergency services take decisive and rapid action to help to locate them,” said Bushell. “Children are vulnerable and when left unsupervised, they can succumb to injury, and therefore it is incredibly important that they’re located as quickly as possible to ensure their safety.”
At 3 p.m., Windsor and Summerville firefighters were asked to deploy their rescue boats to begin searching the Hants County shoreline running from Avondale to Burlington.
But by 3:30 p.m., the search was called off as the little boy had been discovered on the property.
“He (had) crawled under a blanket and went to sleep.”
Bushell said he was pleased the incident had a positive outcome.
In May, a three-year-old Truro boy, Dylan Ehler, was playing in his grandmother’s yard when he went missing. His boots were found near the river, but he was not located. Although the official search was called off May 12, family and friends are still searching for him.
