'Why stop now?' Parents of missing Quebec woman call out SQ's aborted search effort

After 14 days of searching for Mat Viens, a 21-year-old woman who went missing by a waterfall near Quebec City,policesuspended the operation saying it's become too dangerous.

That decision has upset friends and family ofViens, who say theSretduQubecis not taking advantage of the help they've mobilized.

Search and rescue teams were supposed to continue their work in the second basin of the Jean-Larosefallson Saturday, but the SQdetermined it was too risky.

• Searchers dam water, bring in backhoe in desperate quest to find Quebec woman swept over waterfall

"Workers made it to such a depth that it could become dangerous for their safety," saidHlneNepton, an SQ spokesperson.

On Thursday, a group of police and volunteers blocked the water that flows into one of theJean-Larosewaterfalls and began digging into the sediment below the falls with a backhoe.

"At 15-feet deep, it was no longer safe to work in those conditions because we were concerned about a leakor a mechanical breakdown. So we changed our search tactics."

Neptonsaid the ground search would continue later this week and that the case would remain open. She didn't rule out the possibility of continuing the search in the basin, saying they would evaluate the situation day-to-day.

For days, scuba divers combed the water below the falls looking for Viens's body, with noresults.

The falls are located at the foot ofMont-Sainte-AnneinBeaupr, 40 kilometres northwest of Quebec City.

Family and friends mobilizing

Viens' mother Lancy Cummings was on the site Saturday. Shetold Radio-Canada that she was frustrated to hear the search had been called off.

"Yesterday, all day,we were told that everyone was safe," she said. "Why stop now? We put everything in place, we made roads, we put pumps, we mobilized people."

"We've come so far, why not take it to the end?"

Many friends and relatives of the missing woman gathered at the site over the weekend to urge the SQ to resume its operation in the water.

Organizers of the Facebookpage created in Viens' memory are asking people to assemble for a protest Sunday at noon, in order to put pressure on the government to resume the search.