Search called off for Australian hiker missing in rugged Canadian national park | Canada
Crews in eastern Canada have called off an “extensive” six-day air and ground search in a rugged park for a missing Australian hiker.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said it suspended its operations this week after an investigation involving dogs, 100 people, aircraft and ground teams failed to obtain “new information” about the whereabouts of Denise Ann Williams.
Williams, 62, has not been heard from since mid-April, when he entered the Cape Breton Highlands national park. Spanning more than 360 square miles, the park is one of the largest protected wilderness areas in the province of Nova Scotia.
Investigators found Williams’ rental car near the head of the 5-mile (8 km) long Acadian Trail, which offers hikers “panoramic views of the Acadian coastline, the Chéticamp river valley, and the park’s mountainous interior.”
The landscape is full of sheer cliffs, deep river canyons, and vast swampy areas. Roads can quickly drop into valleys and dense boreal forests.
A sign on the Acadian Trail warns hikers to “be careful of black bears and moose.”
19-year-old folk singer Taylor Mitchell was attacked by coyotes while walking in the park in 2009. He called the police, but he died from his injuries. This is the only confirmed fatal coyote attack on an adult human in North America.
RCMP Corporal Mandy Edwards told reporters Williams was hiking alone on an “adventure” vacation and police were unable to obtain any new information after “extensive air and ground work over extremely challenging terrain.”
Parks Canada and local search teams deal with lost hikers, injuries and weather-related disorientation, often as a result of fast-moving fog across the Atlantic Ocean.
Local teams said they spent little time on well-marked trails.
“We’re in the valleys. We’re in mountain passes. We’re walking in dense forest areas. We’re walking in areas where there’s a lot of wind, so it can be quite challenging,” Chris Bellemore, head of the local search and rescue team, told TV station CBC Nova Scotia. “Sometimes you can’t even see your feet because of some of the small trees growing and the debris on the ground.”
Bellemore said “our hearts go out to his family” but said the team remains hopeful.
“That’s what motivates us to be able to take time off from work, be there, try to find a positive outcome from all of this,” he said.
