Search and rescue teams from across Nova Scotia have joined New Glasgow Police in the search for 19-year-old Amber Kirwan, who disappeared early Sunday.

A zodiac rescue boat and three kayaks were seen scouring the East River in Abercrombie, several kilometres from where Kirwan was last seen.

"We're looking for any sort of evidence that may be present," says New Glasgow Fire Chief Doug Dort. "It's like a needle in a haystack. We've got to look for something and we don't know where to start, but we're doing a general search of the river."

Five ground search and rescue teams joined in the effort, bringing the number of trained searchers to more than 100.

"It's pretty rough, but we do what we can," says Dave Harrison, a member of Springhill Search and Rescue. "We all come together at times like this, and hopefully we can come up with some good luck."

Kirwan had been at Dooly's pool hall in New Glasgow with a group of friends the night she disappeared.

She had planned to meet her boyfriend at Big Al's, a nearby convenience store, and Kirwan's friends say she left the pool hall around 1:30 a.m. Sunday, intending to walk to the store.

But that was the last time they saw her.

Her boyfriend, Mason Campbell, says he arrived at Big Al's, but Kirwan never showed up.

He tells CTV News he has spoken with investigators twice, for a total of about four hours, but he says he has nothing to do with Kirwan's disappearance.

"That's the last thing I want to hear going around," says Mason Campbell. "That doesn't help any bit of this situation."

"I loved her with all my heart. I was going to spend the rest of my life with her. When she is turned up, I will spend every single day of my life with her."

Friends, family and community members have been appealing to the public for help in locating Kirwan. Many Pictou County residents spent their Thanksgiving Day combing the woods and banks of the East River, and posters of Kirwan have been plastered around the province.

"I know if I was missing I wouldn't want my friends to give up," Maggie Chickness, a close friend who was with Kirwan the night she disappeared, told CTV News on Tuesday. "I know what I'm going through, personally, for being one of the last people to see her. I can't even imagine what her parents are going through and I don't want to give up."

Police extended their search to the outskirts of New Glasgow and into the old abandoned Tibbetts Paint Factory building in Trenton on Tuesday.

Their search was extended even further Wednesday, as they searched around Abercrombie and further into Trenton.

A spokesman with New Glasgow Police says search crews have found articles of clothing in various places, but it's too early to tell if they are connected to the case.

"Anything that is gathered, any information that is received, we treat it as very crucial," says Const. Ken MacDonald. "But we also have to analyze it to check its authenticity."

Several Facebook groups have been created, appealing to the public for help in locating Kirwan, with one group boasting as many as 4,000 members.

Police say they did spot Kirwan on a surveillance tape from Dooly's from the night she disappeared, but they have not released that tape to the public.

Friends say Kirwan was last seen wearing a blue and black shirt and flat, black shoes. She is roughly five-foot-one inches tall and weights around 130 pounds. Kirwan has brown hair, hazel eyes and two tattoos – a dragonfly on her back, and a star on her right foot.

Anyone with information on her whereabouts has been asked to call New Glasgow Police or Crime Stoppers.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Dan MacIntosh