It took the efforts of 200 local volunteers, a helicopter, drones and ATVs to track down a missing two-year-old boy in the pitch-black night of Alberta’s Peace Country.
And in the end, it’s likely the toddler had simply dozed off after wandering out into a field.
“I’m guessing the kid just fell asleep,” RCMP Const. Lucas Lehman said Tuesday.
A sweeping night-long search was triggered Sunday when RCMP in Fairview, Alta., were called by the toddler’s family after they had searched the property for him.
The child had likely left the home without either parent knowing, Lehman said, and the couple likely believed their child was with the other parent.
The call prompted a search for the missing boy, bringing out more than 200 volunteers in Clear Hills County, a Mennonite community more than 100 kilometres north of Grande Prairie, Alta., Lehman said.
“Everyone kind of knows everybody in those farming communities up there,” he said.
Wading through the dark
Volunteers waded through dark Prairie fields in a line, moving across the property like a radar in hopes of having one person track down the child. Lehman said they didn’t expect a toddler to travel too far.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that probably 10 people probably passed this kid,” Lehman said.
The area is primarily made up of farmland with some trees. Most houses have dugouts — small, excavated water reservoirs — on their properties.
“There was a dugout right in front of the house, too, which obviously made us pretty nervous,” Lehman said. Police first scanned the dugout with a boat and then pumped the entire reservoir dry, he said.
Found after sunrise
The search ended shortly after sunrise Monday when a Grande Prairie Technical Search and Rescue helicopter spotted the child about one kilometre from the home.
The boy was found to be in good health and was reunited with his family.
“It’s pretty remarkable,” Lehman said.
“Everyone’s praying and everything like that, and to find a child here, everyone has a smile on their face after that.”
