Police say they will return to an area they’ve already scoured to launch a fresh search and rescue operation in their efforts to find two children who have been missing in Nova Scotia for two weeks.
Ground and air teams will return to a specific area near where the children originally went missing to search over the long weekend, according to the RCMP.
Lily and Jack Sullivan, aged six and four, were reported missing on the morning of May 2 from their home on Gairloch Road in Lansdowne Station, which is about 30 kilometres from New Glasgow, N.S.
The RCMP had previously said the siblings were believed to have “wandered away.” They noted that there was no evidence of abduction, so it didn’t qualify for an Amber Alert.
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The search since then has continued “day and night,” the RCMP has said, with a reported 180 tips from the public about their possible whereabouts being investigated.
Police on Friday reassured the public their search would keep going two weeks after the kids disappeared — and would be stepped up over the Victoria Day long weekend.
The force said its ground and air teams would return to a previously searched area for a fresh operation.
The RCMP announced it would be relying on ground search and rescue teams, as well as air support, to focus specifically on the area of Gairloch Road in the hunt for the two children. Police hope the latest search will “advance” their investigation.
The search follows a large-scale air and ground search of the heavily wooded and rural area around Gariloch Road at the beginning of May. Those woodland searches were originally scaled back last week because police said the likelihood the children were still alive was “very low.”
On May 8 and May 9, police said the RCMP’s underwater recovery team searched bodies of water around Lansdowne Station but that the two-day operation “didn’t uncover any evidence.”
Lilly is described as having shoulder-length, light brown hair with bangs. She might be wearing a pink sweater, pink pants and pink boots. Jack has short, blond hair and was wearing blue dinosaur boots.
The RCMP are asking anyone with information on the sibling’s whereabouts to contact them, and the public is asked to avoid the area where the search is taking place to allow police to do their work.
— with files from Global News’ Gabby Rodrigues
