Poor weather disrupts search for missing fisherman again
Posted Apr 9, 2012 05:23:30 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
RCMP have once again called off the search for a missing Eastern Passage fisherman in the Musquodoboit Harbour-area lake today due to poor weather conditions.
The search for Brent Walton, 33, was called off Monday morning due to high winds. The search was due to resume after being abandoned Sunday due to a spring snowstorm that dropped up to 15 cm of snow in parts of Nova Scotia.
“Today our intentions were to focus on Level Spot Lake, however due to high winds the search has been suspended for today,” explained Sgt. Bridgit Leger. “Once the weather improves we will be resuming the search for Mr. Walton.”
Walton and a 29-year-old Halifax-area man were crossing the lake when their boat experienced mechanical difficulties Friday.
Their 3.5-metre boat capsized about 200 metres from shore and only one man made it to safety.
A dive team searched the waters from 7 a.m. until 3 p.m. on Saturday before reaching their maximum dive limit.
RCMP said they are still treating the incident as a missing person’s case and have not said that Walton is presumed dead.
Walton’s father said he does not share that optimism.
“Waiting to retrieve the body is the way I see it,” Douglas Walton told News 95.7 Monday morning. “In situations like that nobody’s a good swimmer. In water that cold hypothermia would come on pretty fast.”
He said he’s received a hundred phone calls from people in the community offering their condolences.
