The ground search for two missing children in rural Nova Scotia will resume this weekend, roughly four weeks after their disappearance.
It’s believed Lilly Sullivan, 6, and Jack Sullivan, 4, wandered away from their home on Gairloch Road in Lansdowne Station, N.S., the morning of May 2.
“In an effort to advance the ongoing investigation and locate Lilly and Jack, searchers from ground search and rescue teams and the RCMP will focus on specific areas around Gairloch Rd. and the nearby pipeline trail, where a boot print was previously located,” said the RCMP in a news release Friday.
“We continue to ask that the public avoid the search area to allow trained searchers to do their work.”
Police say any future searches for the missing children will be determined “based on the course of the investigation.”
This comes after police confirmed earlier this week that Lilly and Jack were spotted in public with family members the afternoon of May 1 – the day before they were reported missing.
The RCMP say investigators have collected hours of video from the area and they’re asking the public for additional footage, specifically video along Gairloch Rd. between 12 p.m. on April 28 and 12 p.m. on May 2.
The RCMP launched an extensive air and ground search for the siblings, which covered 5.5 square kilometres of heavily wooded and rural terrain, shortly after they were reported missing.
The search, which involved hundreds of people, dogs, drones, divers and helicopters, was scaled back five days later. Four additional searches took place on May 8, 9, 17 and 18.
Police have also been following up on tips from the public, saying they have received more than 355 so far, and say they have interviewed more than 50 people.
Few other details about the investigation have been released.
Anyone with information on the children’s whereabouts, or who has video footage to share with police, is asked to call the Northeast Nova RCMP Major Crime Unit at 902-896-5060 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).
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