ACHO DENE KOE/FORT LIARD - The search for a missing Fort Liard man who fell out of his canoe into the Petitot River was quickly classified as a recovery mission.

William Betthale, 92, has been presumed drowned based on the conditions of the river that he fell into, said Staff Sgt. Tom Roy of the Fort Nelson RCMP detachment.

William was at his cabin on the Petitot River with his wife, and son Jerry Betthale on May 27. Jerry was on the bank watching his father put his fish nets in the water at approximately 5 p.m. He looked away for a few minutes and when he turned back, William was gone, said Roy.

Jerry immediately began looking for his father, following the riverbank as far as the Petitot River Bridge and Highway 77. At the highway he was able to flag down a motorist and report William as missing, Roy said.

Both the Fort Liard and Fort Nelson RCMP detachments were notified and their search and rescue teams were organized. Because it was getting dark at that point, search activities were delayed until Saturday morning, he said.

By 6 a.m. Great Slave Helicopters Ltd. out of Fort Liard had a helicopter flying over the river and Villers Air Service in Fort Nelson had an airplane out, both looking for signs of William.

Large numbers of family members and resident of Fort Liard also began searching the river by boat, Roy said. They were joined by search and rescue teams from the Fort Liard and Fort Nelson RCMP as well as the Fort Liard RCMP boat.

Searchers in the helicopter spotted William's canoe at approximately 7:40 a.m. that morning floating overturned approximately five kilometres downriver against a steep embankment in a canyon. A Fort Liard resident was sent to retrieve the canoe and search the immediate area but there was no sign of William, Roy said.

The search was classified as a recovery mission quite early because of a number of factors, said Roy. The river is running extremely high and very fast and the water is very cold and William wasn't wearing a life-jacket when he fell in, he said, "Which unfortunately makes the survivability rate in that water in those temperatures very, very remote," Roy said.

Search may end Wednesday

The search continued throughout the weekend. On Monday, William's walking cane was found in an area near where the canoe was located. That location is being re-examined, he said.

On Tuesday morning a second RCMP boat from Hudson's Hope, B.C., was added to the search.

The search was expected to continue until Wednesday evening at which point, depending on the results, the Fort Nelson RCMP planned to meet with William's family and the Fort Liard RCMP to decide if there would be further search efforts, Roy said.

"Hopefully we find something for the family before we terminate the search," he said.

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