Sea searches by the SQ and the Canadian Coast Guard are suspended. (File photo)
The Sûreté du Québec (SQ) announces the suspension of its search at sea to find the kayaker who has been missing since Thursday in Notre-Dame-du-Portage.
The police force is following suit to the Canadian Coast Guard, which suspended operations Tuesday evening.
Paul Alexander Banko, 41, left the Notre-Dame-du-Portage wharf aboard ;a turquoise colored kayak. He has been missing since last Thursday.
Paul Alexander Banko was reportedly last seen last Thursday.
The Sûreté du Québec specifies that it could resume the search at sea at any time, depending on the information received from the public.
Sergeant Claude Doiron believes, however, that, for the moment, everything that was humanly possible to do to find the quarantined man has been done.
“The file remains open, we continue to investigate, ask for the public's help and verify certain elements. »
— Claude Doiron, sergeant of the Sûreté du Québec
Since Sunday, a dozen boats, helicopters and planes the Sûreté du Québec, the Canadian Coast Guard and the Canadian Armed Forces had been called upon to try to find the missing kayaker.
They crisscrossed a large search area that stretches from Rivière-du-Loup to Haute-Gaspésie.
The brother of the missing kayaker, Philippe Banko, indicates that he arrived in Rivière-du-Loup with his mother on Tuesday at the end of the day.
Despite the interruption of search operations at sea, the family tries to find a local resident with a boat to take them to the islands off Rivière-du-Loup, because that is where Paul Alexander Banko was planning to stay. return.
His brother says he still hopes to find him alive, as no material belonging to his brother has yet been found.
He points out that the missing person had new equipment, including the kayak he had bought on the day of his departure. Mr. Banko had to go to one of the islands off Notre-Dame-du-Portage to observe the insects, explains his brother. He planned to spend five to six days on one of these islands.
Philippe Banko maintains that given the projected length of his stay, he had the necessary equipment and possibly enough food, which encourages the family to remain hopeful.
The family urges the residents of the area to keep an eye out.
A friend of the deceased, Pierre-Olivier Ouellet, owner of an entomology extension company, goes in the same direction as the members of his family.
He was not someone who kayaked regularly, but he was always on the banks of a body of water. […] He is someone who knows a lot about the marine environment. I still have hope that he is alive, he says, describing his friend as an insect and shellfish enthusiast.
He considers it very likely that the disappeared landed on an island to explore it in order to find rare insects.
A kayaker reported missing in Notre-Dame-du-Portage
