The grieving family of a missing teen presumed drowned after a boat capsized in Ingonish Harbour says they are in shock over the incident.

“We are actually going through a very hard time,” says the boy’s aunt, Candea Hibbs. “We don’t even know what to think. We are all in shock.”

The family of Gregory Hibbs says the 14-year-old boy was a fun-loving teen who embarked on what turned out to be a tragic misadventure on the water.

Hibbs was with four other Glace Bay teens, aged 14 to 18, aboard the wooden rowboat when it started taking on water early Saturday morning.

Four of the teens made it safely to shore, about 300 metres away, but Hibbs has not been seen nor heard from since.

His aunt says he was a poor swimmer.

“The last time they seen Gregory he was swimming back to the sinking boat,” she says. “They kept telling him to swim on his back but he wasn’t a good swimmer. He just kept going back to the sinking boat and they never seen him when they got to shore.”

Investigators believe the teens had come from Glace Bay to visit a friend who recently moved to the area.

But police say they should never have been out on the water as they were unfamiliar with the area, had no lifejackets, had been drinking and winds were high.

“Very dark night, nobody knew they were out, nobody knew where they were going,” says Const. Brad Anderson. “There were no life-jackets or personal floatation devices in the boat with them. No lighting on a boat that small, the weather was poor, they’re not familiar with the area.”

The parents of one of the survivors say their daughter and the other teens who made it safely ashore are grieving deeply, need counseling and are anxiously awaiting the results of the search in Ingonish Harbour.

Divers and search crews have been scouring the harbour since Saturday, but so far there are no signs of the boat or Hibbs’ body.

A Department of Fisheries zodiac is also scanning the bottom of the harbour with side-scan sonar.

Meanwhile, Glace Bay residents are expressing shock over the incident.

“It’s awful. Just breaks my heart. I could not handle it if it was one of my friends,” says one resident.

“I think it’s a terrible situation that the boy is missing and I wish they could have all come in at the same time,” says another.

Police remain optimistic the underwater radar will help searchers find the sunken boat. Divers say, if the craft is discovered, the teen’s body will likely be found close by.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Randy MacDonald