An extensive air and ground search for a missing 16-year-old boy is underway in Nova Scotia’s Lunenburg County.
The RCMP say Quentin Rafuse of Simms Settlement, N.S., was last seen around 10:30 a.m. Tuesday in a wooded area near Fox Point Lake.
Police say the teen was reported missing around 2 p.m. Tuesday and they are concerned for his well-being.
“With the combination of the heat that we’re having over the past few days, and that it’s a heavily-wooded area there, we’d like very much to locate Quentin sooner than later,” said RCMP Cpl. Dal Hutchinson.
A search was launched Tuesday in the Simms Settlement area. The RCMP Police Dog Services, a Department of Natural Resources helicopter, and Halifax and Lunenburg County Ground Search and Rescue teams are assisting in the search, which continued overnight.
“It’s ongoing again today,” Hutchinson said Wednesday. “We have multiple Ground Search and Rescue teams in the area in an attempt to locate Quentin Rafuse.”
The Mounties are asking people to stop entering the wooded areas that are being searched.
“Searchers have encountered people who were conducting their own searches which can inhibit the search,” Lunenburg County RCMP said in a news release. “Although intentions are positive, we ask that you leave the searching of wooded areas to the Ground Search and Rescue Teams and RCMP Police Dog Services.”
Instead of searching the woods, police are asking residents along Highway 3 in Simms Settlement and along Highway 329 in the Hubbards and Fox Point areas to check their properties.
“Whether it be a garage, a shed, an old cottage or a cabin, or a trailer or an abandoned vehicle on your property,” said Hutchinson. “We’d like very much to hear from anyone that may encounter Quentin Rafuse in their travels.”
Rafuse is described as a white male with short brown hair, brown eyes, and a slim build. He is roughly five-foot-seven inches tall and weighs about 120 pounds.
He was last seen wearing a red T-shirt, shorts, and white sneakers.
Anyone with information on the teen’s whereabouts is asked to contact the Lunenburg County District RCMP or Crime Stoppers.
