5-year-old Darius Macdougall still missing in southern Alberta wilderness

It has now been more than three days since anyone has seen five-year-old Darius Macdougall, who went missing in the Crowsnest Pass area.

RCMP say a five-year-old Alberta boy remains missing after becoming lost in the wilderness in the southern part of the province.

Darius Macdougall was reported missing on Sunday at 11:30 a.m.

Officials say Macdougall was camping with his family at the Island Lake Campground in southern Alberta — about four kilometres south of Crowsnest Pass and 150 kilometres west of Lethbridge.

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He went for a walk with six of his siblings but became separated from them.

“The search for Darius is continuing in full force with every responding unit working together in their fullest capacity,” RCMP Cpl. Gina Slaney said Wednesday.

Professionals from multiple agencies are involved in the search, including teams from Alberta and British Columbia.

The search teams are also being aided by drones with thermal imaging, dogs and helicopters.

“Search efforts continue today with a high priority being placed on teams expanding into new search areas, as well as covering some previous search areas over again,” said Adam Kennedy from the Search and Rescue Association of Alberta (SAR). “Overnight last night, search teams continued ground searches.”

Kennedy said the current search radius is three kilometres in all directions from the campsite the family had been staying at and is gradually being pushed out to 6.6 kilometres.

Approximately 100 people are involved in the search.

“There are 68 searchers from a combination of Alberta and B.C. teams working alongside two RCMP dog teams, one helicopter and multiple drones,” Kennedy explained.

Slaney said during the search, an “area of concern” was identified when what was believed to be blood was located, but an analysis of the sample determined it wasn’t blood after all.

‘Continued hope’

Kennedy said though the search for the boy is in its fourth day, they are still working with the assumption that Darius is “very much alive.”

“After consultation with two leading wilderness survivability physicians, the search effort and tempo reflect our continued hope and assumption that Darius will be found alive,” he said.

Kennedy said SAR does have the potential to use horses in their search if it’s determined that would help and has also been in touch with the Canadian Armed Forces.

“Our emergency co-ordination centre out of Leduc is in constant consultation with all resources that might be able to provide support to this search — Canadian Armed Forces being one of those. That conversation continues as to what assets they may have that would benefit the search effort.

Macdougall is described as four feet tall with short brown hair, and he was last seen wearing a blue/grey hoodie and sweats.

RCMP say the boy has autism, which may prevent him from responding to others.

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