Update: Man still missing after three unsuccessful dive attempts

By Mo Cranker on June 3, 2017.

After three unsuccessful dive attempts at a location in the South Saskatchewan River, members of the Medicine Hat Fire department, Southeast Alberta Search and Rescue, the RCMP and one civilian continue to look for a man who went missing in the river days ago. -- NEWS PHOTO MO CRANKER

Medicine Hat News

After three unsuccessful diving attempts at a location on the South Saskatchewan River near Redcliff, RCMP Medicine Hat Fire workers, members of Southeast Alberta Search and Rescue and one civilian are still looking for the man who went missing in the river days ago.

According to Staff Sgt. Kirk Fisler the team acquired ‘promising’ sonar images late Friday night, but had to wait until this morning to send a team of Medicine Hat Fire workers into the water.

“Right before it got dark last night we got some really promising hits on the sonar, but the lack of light outside made it unsafe to send a dive team in,” he said. “As soon as we could this morning we had a team out and they spent the better part of three hours out at the location trying to recover a body from underneath the surface of the water.”

Fisler says the groups were hopeful they were on to something with the images, but as of now, there seems to be nothing there.

“The thing about sonar is that the images we gather are very much open for interpretation,” he said. “You really only get to see darker and lighter spots. In our attempt we saw something that looked like it could be promising, but it is looking like what we call a negative result.”

As of 4:30 p.m. the group was sending out fresh workers back to the spot, which is roughly 11 kilometers from the headquarters in Strathcona Island Park. At 6:30 p.m. the groups will gather and decide on whether or not move further down the river, and abandon the spot where the sonar images were found.

Fisler says this type of search can last for weeks and told the News that he believes the groups will be searching for, “the better part of a week.”