Police search for a missing toddler near a river in northwestern Alberta

Police are looking for a child who disappeared near the Wapiti River in the Greenview Municipal District on Friday night.

The Grande Prairie RCMP said that a two-year-old boy was with his family near the Canfor Bridge, located about 470 kilometers north of Edmonton, when he disappeared.

Although the search was suspended overnight, the pouring rain Saturday morning with the STARS air ambulance and Grande Prairie's technical search and rescue team.

On Saturday, the teams covered eight kilometers of water and landed downstream of Canfor Bridge, said Grande Prairie RCMP spokeswoman Melanie McIntosh at CBC News: "We've been looking all day said McIntosh, who is involved in the rescue. effort. "There has been a bit of rain here and the terrain is hilly."

The research focused on islands, as well as on trees and grbad up to 100 meters from the shoreline. two sides of the river.

McIntosh said, with the intention of returning early in the morning Sunday morning

The search for the missing toddler continued on Saturday. (William Vavrek)

All available resources are deployed in the current. research, the RCMP said. The agents ask the general public to stay away from the area to allow the teams to work.

Some people in Grande Prairie gathered resources on Saturday to bring food and coffee to first responders working on the river.

There is also an online fundraiser for parents of the toddler, as well as an informal campaign to place teddy bears in the courts before to show their support for the family

"I felt obliged to do something. Heus, the woman who launched the teddy bear campaign, wrote in a Facebook message to CBC News. "Maybe small, but that's all I could do."

Additional updates will be provided when the RCMP has more information.

The people of Grande Prairie and surrounding communities placed teddy bears on the missing toddler and his family (from left to right: Ashley Frandsen, Arlene De Heus, Danielle Mildenberger)