Community members continue search for 4-year-old boy who fell into Guysborough river

Aly Thomson · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 22, 2025 2:20 PM EDT | Last Updated: 1 hr ago

Concerned assemblage members are continuing the hunt for a four-year-old lad who fell into the h2o connected Thursday portion sportfishing on a stream successful Guysborough County.

RCMP said the lad was sportfishing connected the Salmon River adjacent to wherever it empties into the Chedabucto Bay with a antheral and different kid connected Thursday afternoon. The antheral jumped successful the h2o instantly but wasn't capable to rescue the child.

More than 13 agencies — including fire departments, unpaid hunt and rescue teams, and Fisheries and Oceans Canada — were called into work to assistance find the boy, but the hunt was suspended connected Saturday astatine 5 p.m. AT. 

RCMP said determination was nary accusation to suggest the kid got retired of the h2o safely. Any further co-ordinated hunt efforts would resume by aerial astatine a aboriginal date, RCMP said.

Community members person not stopped searching for the boy, who was identified as four-year-old Oakley successful a Facebook station by Guysborough-Tracadie MLA Greg Morrow.

"Thank you to each of the archetypal responders from adjacent and acold who are assisting during this precise bittersweet and hard time. Keep your structure airy connected for Oakley," Morrow wrote.

A GoFundMe leafage acceptable up for Oakley's household by a comparative says the wealth raised volition enactment Oakley's parents, 2 brothers and sister.

"On their mode to walk Easter with family, they stopped to bask a spot of fishing, and that's erstwhile each parent's worst nightmare became a reality," the leafage reads. 

"Our household would similar to instrumentality this accidental to convey each azygous idiosyncratic — adjacent and acold — who has been searching, sending messages, donating, and praying."

A Facebook leafage titled The Search for Oakley has been acceptable up to assistance way wherever members of the nationalist are searching, garnering much than 2,200 members successful conscionable a fewer days.

Dozens of searchers person been walking the shorelines and posting maps of the areas they person combed, indicating the paths they followed.

A few posts reference Spider-Man arsenic being 1 of Oakley's favourite characters. 

Paul Long, warden of the Municipality of the District of Guysborough, said the assemblage has travel unneurotic successful a large mode to connection enactment and resources, helping to look for Oakley and making nutrient for searchers implicit the weekend.

Long antecedently said the incidental occurred connected the main span on the highway, adjacent Route 16, wherever determination is simply a important region betwixt the span and the water. 

"Especially erstwhile you person a young kid spell missing, it surely tugs connected the heartstrings of everybody progressive and they privation to bash their champion to enactment them," said Long successful a telephone interrogation Tuesday.

"It's been thing that's indispensable for the assemblage to consciousness a portion of it arsenic well. There's lone truthful galore things you tin bash sometimes in definite situations, and looking is 1 happening that radical tin do." 

Cast Away Cafe in Guysborough, N.S., posted successful the Facebook radical that it would beryllium offering free coffee, grilled food sandwiches and crockery to anyone helping with the hunt this week.

On Tuesday, the RCMP said it is moving with spouse agencies who supported the archetypal hunt to analyze information that has been collected to find wherever and erstwhile searches volition resume.

It said any further hunt efforts would resume by aerial "at a aboriginal date." The benignant of trade used, specified arsenic a plane, helicopter, oregon drone, volition beryllium determined based connected the needs of the search.

"As with each hunt and rescue oregon betterment situations, investigators volition travel up connected immoderate and each caller accusation that is received, and determination volition beryllium information to biology conditions and upwind and their interaction connected the information of the radical progressive successful searches," the connection said.

Strait Regional Centre for Education said further supports were successful spot Tuesday astatine its schools, including counsellors and different schoolhouse and determination unit who tin supply support as needed.