Missing boy’s father and uncle watch RCMP Dive Team and SAR efforts Sunday morning. Photo 250News

Prince George, B.C. – The search for a 15-year-old Prince George boy who went for a swim with a buddy on a hot summer day has now been suspended.

The boys, both 15 years of age, were swimming at the mouth of the Hudson Bay slough around 4 Friday afternoon when one boy disappeared under the water and failed to re-surface.  Prince George Search and Rescue, aided by the RCMP and Yellowhead Helicopters, has been conducting ground, water and air searches for the past 48 hours, but without success.

The area the boy disappeared in, right at the mouth of the slough, has a trench running about twelve feet deep beneath it, too deep for search crews to be effective in.  In that light the RCMP Dive Team from the Lower Mainland was contacted and this morning the four-member team conducted a 45-minute search along the bottom of the trench in extremely muddy and murky water which provided visibility of about six inches.  No sign of the boy was found there and the dive team effort was curtailed.

RCMP Cpl Craig Douglass says in light of the dive team results and the fact the Fraser River current runs much too fast for the team to be able to work in it, the search for the boy is now suspended and he is considered missing until he is found, meaning the file remains open.  Cpl Douglass says “given the circumstances it’s unlikely that he, at this point, made it out of the water.”

Police have not released the teen’s name and Douglass says that is something that will be determined after speaking with the boy’s family.

Police have issued a description of the youth:

156 cm  (5’5”)

54 kg (120 lbs)

Short blonde hair

Last seen wearing blue jeans, gold and black DC running shoes and a black T-shirt.

Police are asking to speak with anyone who was near the slough (Hudson’s Bay Wetland Nature Park) on the afternoon of Friday July 3^rd.