Search for men, aged 75 and 82, continues after overturned boat found in northeastern N.B.
A search for two elderly men continues in northeastern New Brunswick after emergency crews located their small fishing boat overturned Tuesday morning.
Aldéric Thibodeau, 75, and Léandre Thibodeau, 82, were last seen on Monday, around 1 p.m., at the wharf on Robertson Brook Road in Brantville, near Tabusintac, according to the Neguac RCMP.
The brothers went out fishing for mackerel and never returned, according to one of their distant cousins, Réjean Roussel, who assisted in the search from the Neguac wharf on Tuesday afternoon.
Both men have a lot of experience at sea, he said.
"They have already fished lobster, they have already been on big boats," Roussel, who was also a fisherman for many years, said in French.
"They are old fishermen. They know the sea."
Réjean Roussel, a former fisherman and distant cousin of the two missing men, helped search for them on Tuesday in the Neguac area. (Pascal Raiche-Nogue/Radio-Canada)
"With the wind he had, we lost them, it seems.
"That's fishing."
Boat found near Portage Island
When the men failed to return by around 9:30 p.m., the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Halifax was contacted, said Isabelle Comeau, spokesperson for Fisheries and Oceans Canada.
A Canadian Armed Forces Cormorant helicopter was assigned to search in Tabusintac Bay, accompanied by the Canadian Coast Guard's search and rescue boat Cap Breton and several auxiliary coast guard vessels, said Comeau.
The Tracadie Fire Department was also called in.
The sea was agitated and the waves were pretty strong. - Georges St. Coeur, local fisherman
"We left around 9:45 p.m. and we were at sea until around 4:30 a.m.," said Georges St. Coeur, a fisherman who participated in the search.
"The sea was agitated and the waves were pretty strong," he said.
The wind was "treacherous," according to St. Coeur, who has been a fisherman for more than 50 years and has assisted Coast Guard teams for more than 30 years.
Georges St. Coeur, a fisherman for decades, described the wind Monday as 'treacherous.' (Radio-Canada)
An overturned boat that matched the description of the one the two men were travelling in was recovered by emergency crews Tuesday around 8:30 a.m. near Portage Island, south of Neguac, RCMP Sgt. Patrick Dupont of the Neguac detachment said in a news release.
Later in the day, Comeau confirmed the overturned boat located by a Cormorant was "the missing vessel."
It was between 14 and 16 feet long, according to the RCMP.
"All I want is for someone to find these guys as soon as possible," said St. Coeur.
The overturned boat was recovered Tuesday morning near Portage Island, south of where the two men were last seen. (Google Maps)
The Tracadie Fire Department, New Brunswick Coast Guard, the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre and the Neguac RCMP continue to search for Aldéric Thibodeau and Léandre Thibodeau, Dupont said.
"Police and their families are concerned for their well-being," he said.
Members of the Tracadie Fire Department are participating in the ongoing search. They were called in Monday around 9:30 p.m., a city official said. (Pascal Raiche-Nogue/Radio-Canada)
Aldéric Thibodeau is described as being about five feet five inches tall and weighing roughly 150 pounds, with green eyes and short grey hair.
He was last seen wearing an orange ball cap, green rubber fishing boots and a grey jacket.
Léandre Thibodeau, who is bald, was last seen wearing a yellow rain jacket, with a white T-shirt underneath, and grey pants.
Anyone who has seen the men since Monday at 1 p.m., or has information that could help locate them, is asked to the Neguac RCMP at 506-776-3000.
Aldéric Thibodeau, 75, and Léandre Thibodeau, 82, were last seen going fishing at the wharf on Robertson Brook Road in Brantville, not far from this wharf in Neguac. (Pascal Raiche-Nogue/Radio-Canada)
Tragedy struck the Tabusintac area fishing community about 10 years ago.
On May 18, 2013, a small lobster boat grounded on a sandbar in Tabusintac Bay and sank, killing all three fishermen on board — Samuel-René Boutin, 23, of Saumarez, Alfred Rousselle, 32, of Brantville, and Ian Benoit, 35, of Tabusintac.
Weeks later, five additional green buoys were added to the narrow channel "for increased navigational safety," a report by the Transportation Safety Board revealed.
A review by Canadian Coast Guard Aids to Navigation (CCG NavAids) on June 25, 2013, determined the buoys were required on both sides of the channel because it was less than 30½ metres wide.
Fishermen in the community had been complaining about the narrow channel prior to the Marie J sinking on its return to McEachern's Point harbour, and had urged Fisheries and Oceans Canada to dredge the area.
