Family of Darius Macdougall releases statement following unrelated family death

Family of Darius Macdougall, still missing in the Crowsnest Pass area, says one of his best friends who was also on that trip has passed away.

The family of a six-year-old boy who went missing in southern Alberta has released a statement.

The family shared the statement on Tuesday. through the “Bring Darius Macdougall home” Facebook page.

The post is the first time the family has spoken publicly since Macdougall went missing on Sept. 21.

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The boy and his family were camping on Crown land in the Livingstone Public Land Use Zone last month.

They say they arrived on Friday, Sept. 19, with a group that included grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins – all of whom were there to celebrate “a few birthdays.”

Macdougall was there with his dad, his dad’s girlfriend and her daughter Kya.

Macdougall’s mother wasn’t with the group, the post said.

The post says the family was packing up their campsite on Tuesday, Sept. 21, as they prepared to leave.

“The kids were playing on the island adjacent the camp, just across a creek where the adults could see them,” reads the post.

“Darius, Kya and [an] unnamed cousin were walking/playing together with other kids close by when Darius went missing. They turned their backs and Darius was gone.”

According to the post, the children immediately let their family know.

His grandmother called 911 and search and rescue teams were on site within 20 minutes, the post says.

After 11 days of searching by hundreds of volunteers from Alberta, B.C. and Saskatchewan, there was no sign of the missing boy and the formal search was called off.

The statement indicates that Kya passed away in a “separate tragic event.”

RCMP confirm they responded to a medical emergency but said the death is not criminal.

An obituary indicates the young girl was six, and died on Oct. 10 at the Alberta Children’s Hospital in Calgary.

“This was an unexpected, horrible tragedy for a family already feeling broken from Darius disappearance,” the post said.

“We would like to thank the staff of Pincher Creek, STARS and Albert Children’s Hospital for their love and care of Kya and the family.”