Family of missing Alberta couple suspends search due to winter weather

The family of a missing Alberta couple whose plane vanished en route to Edmonton said their private search for the pair has been suspended.

RELATED: ‘We are all praying and waiting by the phone for a call with good news’: sister of missing pilot prays brother and girlfriend found safe

Dominic Neron, 28, of Spruce Grove, Alta., and his girlfriend Ashley Bourgeault, a mother of three, took off from Penticton Regional Airport Nov. 25 at 2:30 p.m. They were reported overdue later that night when their plane failed to arrive in Edmonton.

READ MORE: Family of missing Alberta pilot travel to B.C. interior to continue search efforts

The official Joint Rescue Coordination Centre search near Revelstoke was called off Dec. 4, and the case has since become a missing persons file with the RCMP. The family had been conducting their own search ever since.

READ MORE: Family of missing Alberta pilot pleads for details that could extend search

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However, two days ago, they made the difficult decision to suspend it as a result of inclement weather.

“[It’s] a semi-active, passive search. They’re doing what they can but with the snow and everything, it makes it difficult. Once it starts snowing out there, I don’t think it stops very often.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "[It's] a semi-active, passive search. They're doing what they can but with the snow and everything, it makes it difficult. Once it starts snowing out there, I don't think it stops very often."

There are plans to start the search back up again in the early spring.

“Basically, as of right now, we have to wait for the snow to melt because the drones were icing up and the helicopters don’t have visibility,” said Dominic’s sister Tammy Neron.

Neron said coming to that decision as not easy.

“It was something that was the hardest decision. We were out of options,” she said.

“There was no other choice. We had to accept the unacceptable basically.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "There was no other choice. We had to accept the unacceptable basically."

Barnes said the decision to call off the search for the time being was “like a kick in the face all over again.”

“It’s pretty well what we have to accept at some point,” she said.

“They’re obviously not coming home alive. The chance of survivability at this point is zero.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "They're obviously not coming home alive. The chance of survivability at this point is zero."

A GoFundMe page has been started to raise money for the family’s search efforts.

Family members have also opened up a trust fund for Bourgeault’s children at TD Bank called the “Ashley Bourgeault trust fund.”

Anyone with information or tips is asked to call RCMP.