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Coast guard vessel on its way to assist RCMP search for missing fishers

An RCAF Hercules aircraft scours the waters as members of a ground search and rescue team walk along the shore of the Bay of Fundy in Hillsburn, N.S., in an area where empty life-rafts from a scallop fishing vessel where reported on Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2020. The Canadian Press/Andrew Vaughan

A Canadian Coast Guard vessel is on its way to assist the RCMP search for five fishers still missing off the coast of Nova Scotia.

The Mounties reported on Wednesday that their aerial search, conducted in partnership with Nova Scotia’s Department of Lands and Forestry, has resumed.

They will continue to use a helicopter to search the coastline from Digby Gut, N.S., to Harbourville, N.S., for any signs of the Chief William Saulis or its five missing crew members.

The scallop dragger was carrying six men when it sank on the morning of Dec. 15.

The body of one of its crewmen, Michael Drake, was recovered later that day.

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(Top L to R) Aaron Cogswell, Charles Roberts, Daniel Forbes, Geno Francis, Leonard Gabriel and Michael Drake were the crew onboard the Chief William Saulis, a scallop dragger that is believed to have sunk while operating off the coast of Nova Scotia. Facebook, Background photo courtesy of Katherine Bickford

The other five men – Aaron Cogswell, Leonard Gabriel, Daniel Forbes, Eugene Francis and the boat’s captain, Charles Roberts – are still lost.

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A Canadian Coast Guard vessel left Dartmouth Wednesday and is currently making its way to Digby.

It’s expected to arrive on Friday and provide a platform allowing the RCMP underwater recovery team to perform sonar exploration in the area as they search for the sunken vessel.

Click to play video: 'RCMP lead recovery effort for scallop fishers presumed dead in Nova Scotia'
RCMP lead recovery effort for scallop fishers presumed dead in Nova Scotia

RCMP had no update on the debris that was found on Monday.

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At the time, Mounties and the Transportation Safety Board were working to determine whether the debris, which was consistent with a small section of the upper portion of the Chief William Saulis, came from the vessel.

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