Body found in first-ever sweep of North Saskatchewan River

A body was found by police fifteen minutes into the first-ever sweep of the North Saskatchewan River on Wednesday.

The coordinated search was conducted by RCMP, Edmonton Police, firefighters and park rangers.

They werent looking for anyone in particular;it was simply an effort to locate the possible remains of missing persons.

Police searched by air and on the water. RCMP officers searched sections of the river outside Edmonton city limits.

Sgt. Neil Zurawell with the missing persons unit of Edmonton Police said that the idea for the sweep came from Saskatchewan. He says fall is a good time of year to check the river because water levels are low.

Were checking shorelines, where there is any debris, sand bars, gravel bars, anywhere where a body could get hung up, Zurawell said.

The identity of the person found in the river still needs to be determined.

Edmonton Police would like to do more regular searches of the river in the future. Sgt. Jose Valiquette of the RCMP says similar searches could be done of the Bow River.