Distress signals in northern Quebec prompt helicopter search
Search crews have come up empty-handed after looking for the source of distress flares seen coming from a heavily wooded area on Sunday near Fermont, in the Côte-Nord region of Quebec.
Sûreté du Québec called off search operations at 3 p.m. ET on Tuesday after a helicopter found nothing after searching 20 kilometres of forest from above.
A driver from Labrador travelling on Route 389 had noticed the flares on Sunday night while about an hour outside Fermont, near Labrador City.
He contacted police who, along with members of the Fermont fire department, searched the area by snowmobile. During the first search, another flare went off. Still, crews could not find the source of the distress signal.
Nathalie Girard of the SQ said Monday that around 10 chalets in the area were also checked and all snowmobile tracks were traced, to no avail.
