The massive search for two missing children continues for a fourth day in a rural and heavily-wooded area of Nova Scotia’s Pictou County, as their stepfather calls for the search area to be expanded.
Daniel Martell is pleading with the public to keep their eyes peeled for Lily and Jack Sullivan, aged six and four.
But he told Global News he’s begun to lose hope the children are in the vicinity.
“We covered everywhere possible. Even in the first day we did. Even with me running through the woods,” he said.
“I was ahead of the helicopters, ahead of the drones … screaming loud as I can, until my throat hurt, running through water that was up to my waist.”
The siblings were reported missing at around 10 a.m. Friday, and were last seen at their home on Gairloch Road in Lansdowne Station, which is about 30 km from New Glasgow, N.S.
Martell refuted claims on social media that both children are non-verbal. He clarified that the children are on the autism spectrum, are very trusting, and tend to say “hi” to everyone.
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The children were home Friday morning with him, his partner and their baby. He said when he noticed they were missing, he began looking for them outside.
“They hate being wet and cold, so they immediately would have come back into the house. The only two (foot) prints are right beside the house facing the road and that’s it,” said Martell.
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He’s calling for the search to be extended to include provincial borders and airports, in case the children were abducted.
“Post any officers they can get, at the New Brunswick border and P.E.I. … and get them out at every airport possible,” he said.
“Anybody who has any information, or you think you seen something. contact your local police services. Anything guys, anything.”
Massive search involving 160 volunteers
Ground search and rescue crews — alongside police dogs, drones, and aircraft — have been scouring the woods daily since the children’s disappearance.
The area’s councillor, Donnie Parker, walked up to the search area on Monday to thank the volunteers for their tireless efforts.
“It’s incredible the amount of people coming here. They’re rotating. One shift goes, the next one comes in. They’re switching at night,” he said, adding that the community hall has been a hub for the volunteers.
“If you got a little one at home, give them an extra hug because this is a tough, tough thing. It could happen to anybody.”
On Sunday, some 160 volunteers were on site — pushing ahead through rainy and foggy conditions. Monday saw about the same number of volunteers — coming from as far away as Lunenburg and Cape Breton.
Two Department of Natural Resources helicopters and several drones were active during the day, and have technology that can identify body heat. An RCMP helicopter was also brought in on Monday.
RCMP said there is no evidence to suggest the kids were abducted, and instead believe they “wandered” away. Due to this fact, their disappearance didn’t qualify for an Amber Alert, however a Vulnerable Missing Person Alert was sent out on Friday.
“There was at one point a possible foot print identified. Based on that, the searchers have now started doing grid searches around that area, just to expand to see if there’s anything from that,” said Sgt. Curtis MacKinnon with Nova Scotia RCMP on Sunday.
Lily is described as having having shoulder-length, light brown hair with bangs. She might be wearing a pink sweater, pink pants and pink boots. Martell told Global News she was also carrying a white backpack with strawberries on it.
Jack has short, blond hair and was wearing blue dinosaur boots. Martell said he had not seen Jack on Friday morning, but believed he was wearing a brown shirt and pants with a pull-up diaper underneath.
— with files from Global News’ Ella MacDonald and Mitchell Bailey
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