Yellowknife (Feb 03/06) - An eight-year-old boy was missing for hours yesterday morning after his mother discovered he was no longer in a rented room at Capital Suites hotel in downtown Yellowknife.

The family was visiting the city from Nunavut.

The mother pulled the fire alarm in the building after waking at 5 a.m. and finding the boy gone.

The boy, identified only as "Dane," was last seen wearing only socks and underpants. He also suffers from a hearing impairment and wears a hearing aid.

A large-scale search was organized with the help of the RCMP, the Yellowknife Fire Department, Yellowknife Search and Rescue, and the Canadian Armed Forces.

A description of the boy was aired on local radio stations and taxis were asked to be on alert for the boy.

The boy was located by a woman who called police at 8:25 a.m. Police will not release the names of the child, the family, or the woman who found the boy because of an ongoing investigation.

The boy was picked up by police at the woman's residence "on the other side of downtown." Stanton Territorial Hospital confirmed to Yellowknifer that the boy was at the hospital later in the day and released in good health shortly thereafter.

Police say the woman who found the boy told police how and where she found the lad, but police are not confirming that their suspicions are at rest. Police believe his hearing impairment was not a factor in the case, said Const. Colleen Werrell.

Capital Suites manager Warren Berg said he could not comment on the case. "(But) the response of the police, customers of the hotel and employees: they really stepped up to the plate."