Police search Bow, Oldman rivers for missing people

Police acrosssouthern Alberta are searchingseveral riversthis weekin a widespread effort to finally locate the bodies of numerouspeople who have been reported missing and still not found.

There are currently 27 unresolvedmissing-person cases filed fromcommunities along the Bow and Oldman rivers. In at least two of those cases, the missing people are known to have entered one of therivers, according to theRCMP.

The Calgary Police Service alsohas several ongoing investigations in which missing people are believed to have entered the Bow River,which flows into the South Saskatchewan River.

'Sad reality'

Const. LynnMacDonaldwith the CPS Missing Persons Team said the search isn't for a particular person,as the "sad reality" is that there are numerous cases in which people either enter the water voluntarily or accidentally and can't make their way out.

She said the goal is to hopefully deliver some answers, finally, to the familiesof missing people.

"A lot of the families we are still in contact with," MacDonald said. "As the years go by, families try to move ahead but we have a lot of missingpersons cases and there are always new ones coming in.So we are not able to stay up on communications as much as we like to, but we try to do that."

Bow River to be searched by helicopter

With water being especially low and clear on theBow and South Saskatchewan rivers at this time of year, Calgary policealong with RCMP and officers from the Lethbridge and Medicine Hatare conducting aerial searches of the waterways on Tuesday and Wednesday.

In Calgary, specifically, police are sending a helicopter along the Bow River from the Bearspaw Dam in the northwest all the way south to the city limits.

Divers withthe Calgary Fire Department are ready to be deployed to search more closely should anything be spotted from the air.