Family searches Whiteshell Provincial Park after man goes missing

Family of a Manitoba man are dismayed after he disappeared in Whiteshell Provincial Park Friday morning.

Bradley Anderson, 49, of Pinaymootang First Nation, went missing while rice picking on an airboat on the Whiteshell River northwest of Lone Island Lake, said his family member Eileen Doerksen.

Family grew concerned and called RCMP at about 9:30 a.m. Friday, said Doerksen. She said Mounties and conservation officers showed up around 1 p.m. and searched the area with dogs before leaving about three hours later.

RCMP told the family the dive team wouldn't be free to help out until Sunday, said Doerksen, and that frustrated the family.

"We don't have the resources or the means to do any search, we don't have the expertise to do so," she said.

Searchers eventually came across the airboat submerged in the shallows of the Whiteshell River, said Doerksen.

Family then called the Hutterian Emergency Aquatic Response Team, a volunteer dive team that helps out in missing persons cases and suspected drownings.

Paul Maendel with HEART said the team visited the area where Anderson is suspected to have gone missing.

They did a few flyovers with a plane but couldn't see anything out of the ordinary, so they intend on heading back Saturday to help with the search.

"We'll use our resources that we have to try and help them," he said. "They seem pretty helpless at this point and I know how that feels, and hopefully they can get a resolution."

CBC News contacted RCMP for details but has yet to hear back.