RCMP are reporting what they believe may be a sighting of five teenagers who have been missing in northern Saskatchewan for the past week.
A search aircraft spotted five people on the shore of Malcolm Island at 12:50 p.m. CST.
Police believe the sighting is of the four boys and one girl, but that has not been confirmed.
A boat with community search members is on the way to Malcolm Island, which will take one to two hours to reach.
Malcolm Island is approximately 10 kilometres south of the northern Saskatchewan community of Kinoosao.
Since Thursday, a major search involving planes and boats, and on foot has been underway around Reindeer Lake, about 500 kilometres northeast of Saskatoon.
Searchers assembled on the landing strip at Southend, Sask., on the weekend as efforts continued to find five missing teenagers. (Facebook)
Police received a report that the four boys and a girl, ages 13 to 17, did not return after leaving in a boat last Tuesday.
It’s not clear what they were planning, although one family member says they had gone hunting.
RCMP said on Saturday that a search plane spotted two boats on Reindeer Lake north of Southend, but the boats were gone by the time a ground crew arrived at the site on Sunday.
The appearance of the boats happened in the same area where Arctic Lodges is located, more than 120 kilometres north of Southend.
Police and a spokesman for the lodge said a cabin was damaged, with doors kicked in, but there have also been some items taken that could help the teens survive.
“It looked like there had been people in the lodge, around the lodge, and some basic items were taken including some survival items, food and fuel and things like that,” Sgt. Josh Hallett said.
The search has been hampered by poor weather, with temperatures well below zero and winds gusting to 40 km/h.
