Thanks to favourable weather, Terrace Search and Rescue (SAR) crews were able to continue search efforts for a Red Deer, Alberta man who went missing in the Skeena River late last year.
“Low water conditions allowed the team to re-visit a large log jam below where Dustin [Steele] entered the water,” said Terrace SAR president Dwayne Sheppard April 20.
“Visibility underwater was poor but the team used underwater cameras to search into the log jam. If conditions permit, the team may revisit the area again before water levels rise.”
Dustin Steele, 23, was last seen on November 1, 2014 at approximately 9 p.m. in the Copper Flats area, when a truck he and two friends were in was driven into the river and became caught in the current, reported Terrace RCMP Nov. 3.
Two of the men made it to shore and Dustin was last seen in the back of the floating truck heading downstream on the Skeena River.
Search and rescue volunteers and many individuals went out for many days afterward looking for Steele.
In December, 2014 searchers returned to look on the shoreline and shallow water areas and found a child seat, and boot believed to have come from the truck, said Sheppard at that time.
As long as the weather continues to co-operate, search and rescue will be checking the log jam again.
“We are going to try to go under the log jam with the underwater camera to reach the back end of the jam,” said Sheppard, adding the log jam is about 1 km below where Steele entered the Skeena, making it a highly probable area where he might be found.
“We will search the log jam once again. We have no plan to continue searching other parts of the Skeena because water levels are rising and the area is vast.”