Ontario Provincial Police say they will “slowly begin scaling back” their search for a missing three-year-old boy who was swept into a swollen river in southwestern Ontario.
In a release Monday evening, OPP say they will be “continually reassessing” the conditions along the stretch of the Grand River where they’ve been searching for Kaden Young.
The toddler was in the family van in the early hours of last Wednesday when the vehicle was swallowed up by the fast-moving river.
His mother managed to get the boy out of the van, but lost her grip in the strong current and he was swept downstream.
Fewer volunteers were expected to turn out for the search as the work week resumed.
Provincial police say between 300 and 500 volunteers helped out over the weekend in the search, but they expected only 100 or so to take part on Monday.
Officers were combing the area around Belwood Lake, about 13 kilometres downstream from where the boy disappeared into the Grand River near Orangeville, Ont.
Const. Paul Nancekivell, spokesman for the provincial police’s Dufferin detachment, said the work has been challenging due to the damage from last week’s flooding, with sheets of floating ice blanketing the water.