Hundreds of rescuers are searching through the thick forest for two lost children in a rural area of Canada’s Nova Scotia province. The search has now been going on for four days.
Lily Sullivan, 6, and her brother Jack, 4, were last seen at their home in Pictou County on Friday morning. Their home is about 70 miles from Halifax, which is the main city of Nova Scotia. On Saturday, police said they think the two got lost and didn’t come back to their house.
Since then, more than 100 people, along with helicopters, drones, and dogs, have been searching the heavily wooded area near their home for any hints about where the siblings might be.
CBC News reports that a spokesperson for the Royal Canadian Mounted cops (RCMP) told reporters on Monday, “It’s been a few days, but that hasn’t dampened the hopes of the search teams and the police who are here trying to get these kids home.”
Even though it was raining hard, the search went on all night Monday. CBC reported that police said hunters saw a footprint on Saturday and have stepped up their efforts in that area.
Malehya Brooks-Murray, the kids’ mother, told CNN station CTV News that she heard the kids playing in the next room when she woke up on Friday morning and then went back to sleep. She called 911 as soon as she woke up and saw that they were gone.
CTV heard Brooks-Murray say. Jack and Lily don’t like being outside by themselves.
Brooks-Murray told CTV, “We always make sure that we’re out there with them, watching them, and they just walked out that sliding door, and we can’t hear it when it opens. They were playing outside, but we weren’t aware of it at the time, and the next thing we knew it was quiet.”
Chief Michelle Glasgow says that the kids are from the Sipekne’katik First Nation.
He asked people on social media to “please help bring Lily and Jack back home.”
The kids’ dad, Daniel Martell, told CBC that Lily and Jack are “great kids.”
Martell said, “Jack just adores bugs and dinosaurs.” “Lily likes girly things, but she also loves doing everything with Jack.”
“They’re not just brothers and sisters; they’re best friends,” he said.
Martell said that he wants the cops to keep an eye on the airports and borders to look for the kids. According to the CBC, the RCMP are not looking into the case as a possible kidnapping right now.
Police and search and rescue workers from the RCMP have “carefully searched” the area around Jack and Lily’s house. On Monday, the police asked people to stay away from the search area on social media.
The RCMP said, “Searchers are being very careful to keep track of which parts of the ground have been covered and are using their special skills to keep the searchers on scene safe.”
Someone on social media on Saturday said that people “across Nova Scotia are praying for a positive outcome” for Jack and Lily. This was said by Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston.