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Still no sign of missing Bellingham boy

01:36 PM PST on Sunday, February 17, 2008

KING5.com Staff & Associated Press

Massive search for William

TOFINO, British Columbia - Police and volunteer searchers fanned out across this Vancouver Island community and nearby woods and beaches again Saturday, searching for a missing 8-year-old boy from Bellingham, Wash.

William Pilkenton went missing Friday morning. Searchers spent a second-day Saturday scouring the town by land, sea and air.

"No signs, no witnesses, no footprints, no concrete evidence of him being in town," said Garth Cameron of Westcoast Inland Search and Rescue.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police used dog teams on land and dive teams in the waters off Tofino looking for the boy, who went missing while walking on the rocky shore of Duffin Cove early Friday. His parents, David and Camilla Pilkenton were hold up on a local bed and breakfast and reporters who approached the house were asked to leave by police.

KING Graphic

The boy, named William, has been missing since Friday morning.

RCMP say the area where the boy was last seen walking was rocky, slippery and wet with recent rain and the ocean breaks onto the rocks. Some people reported seeing the boy in town on Friday after he disappeared around 10 a.m., but searchers hadn't ruled out the possibility he might have been swept into the water.

"We're keeping all options open right now," said Constable Susan Boyes. "We don't want to take a narrow focus and rule anything out and perhaps miss something. So right now we're searching everywhere we can possibly."

The search was to be called off when darkness fell but would resume Sunday, said Cameron. Searchers scoured the town three times on Saturday, he said.

An RCMP helicopter with infrared capacity to detect body heat also flew over the area, while dive teams looked in the water. Cameron said there was a need for about 50 volunteers, and that it was the biggest search in the area in a long time.

The boy was last seen wearing a red jacket, multicolored fleece, blue jeans and black rubber boots.

At their Lake Whatcom home, Dwayne and Bernice Hanson are praying that their neighbor and young friend William is found safe and sound.

"I'm hoping that the lord intervenes and finds him safely," Bernice said.

 

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