The RCMP said Friday evening that aircraft patrols throughout the morning and afternoon on Feb. 22 found no trace of the Miss Ally.
The RCMP says it received assistance Friday from the Department of National Defence and Canadian Coast Guard as part of the efforts to locate the Miss Ally.
“Today, Joint Task Force Atlantic tasked an air surveillance mission to patrol an area in an attempt to visually spot any debris associated with the capsized fishing vessel Miss Ally,” reads a release issued to the media at 9:20 p.m. “The aircraft patrolled extensively throughout the morning and again this afternoon.”
The patrols lasted approximately five hours each and factored in drift calculations based on the known environmental influences, says the RCMP, “but regrettably found nothing.”
The start point for the patrol was a position requested by the families where the Miss Ally could have been located. Additional flights will be conducted Saturday, Feb. 23, to take advantage of weather conditions at sea.
The Canadian Coast Guard vessel, Sir William Alexander, arrived at 4 a.m. local time where the debris field was spotted on Feb. 21 and conducted a grid search of the area.
As a result of today's search, the Canadian Coast Guard confirmed to RCMP that no debris from the Miss Ally was located, says the release issued by the RCMP.
The Sir William Alexander will remain in the area to continue searching the grid pattern until operations cease.
“I would like to thank our partners at the Department of National Defence and Canadian Coast Guard who have supported the RCMP in our effort to locate the Miss Ally. This has been an exhaustive collaborative effort involving multiple aircrafts, marine vessels and support and information from local fishers,” says RCMP Superintendent Sylvie Bourassa-Muise, District Policing Officer, Southwest Nova Scotia. “Having spent the last several days with the families and members of the community, I know what a tremendous loss this is for Woods Harbour. On behalf of RCMP and Department of National Defence and Canadian Coast Guard, we express our sincerest condolences to the families.”
The families have said that they feel the official search was called off too soon. The official search was called off on Tuesday, Feb. 19, but pressure from families and communities resulted in a resumption of search efforts, but not until Thursday. The families have also expressed anger and frustration that the capsized vessel was not searched after it had been located.
