More divers join search for boy
The effort to find missing sevenyear-old Greagan Geldenhuys entered a fifth day on Wednesday with assistance from RCMP in Alberta and Manitoba.
In what the Mounties this week called a “recovery mission” on Echo Lake, Saskatchewan RCMP enlisted the aid of an RCMP helicopter from K Division (Alberta), as well as divers and other underwater recovery resources from D Division (Manitoba).
The RCMP Underwater Recovery Team continued to focus their searches Wednesday at B - Say-tah Beach, which is where Greagan and his mother Tamaine were last seen on Friday afternoon. The next day, Tamaine’s body was found several kilometres away on the beach in nearby Fort Qu’appelle.
But Greagan remains missing. He and his 47-year-old mother were residents of Lebret, about 20 minutes east of B-say-tah. Family members, who have come together in the area to join in the search, told the Leader-post the mother and son spent many summer days down at the beach. Photos shared show Greagan playing in the lake and on rocks on shore.
According to Geldenhuys’ daughter Corrinna Howard, Tamaine texted her other daughter Cassandra at 3:59 p.m. on Friday to say Tamaine and Greagan were heading to the beach to look for pelicans.
With the mother and son’s clothing and other personal items found on shore, family members say they’ve been told by the RCMP that the evidence suggests some sort of swimming mishap.
In addition to the police resources deployed to find Greagan, upwards of 100 volunteers have lent a hand, searching on water and land.
According to a Facebook page titled Finding Greagan and administered by Greagan’s uncle Darcy Pantel to assist in the volunteer search, civilians continued their efforts late into the night Tuesday and were back at it Wednesday morning. Joining in the search was the Amphibious Response Support Unit with their hovercraft.
“We are trying to organize a more concerted effort using sonar with a group of willing fisherman. We are planning to do a fairly extensive grid type search on Echo Lake. If you can help out please check in at 234 Boundary Ave. to get tied into the coordination,” a post Wednesday morning stated.
“As the search continues and grows so does our need for support. While we recognize that the search cannot maintain this pace for ever we are trying to do as much as we can while there is still hope,” it continued.
In an interview Tuesday, Tamaine’s son Ryan Geldenhuys and daughter Corrinna expressed gratitude for the outpouring of community help, and the updates and support from the RCMP.
“It just removes the feeling of hopelessness,” Ryan said.