Association reviews search data for new clues in open cases in B.C. Interior

KAMLOOPS, B.C. – Members of a volunteer search and rescue organization are reviewing what they know so far in a nearly 10-month search for a small plane that went missing on a flight over southeastern British Columbia in the hopes of finding new information.

Fred Carey of the Civil Air Search and Rescue Association says cellphone details previously provided a probable route for the single-engine Piper piloted by 21-year-old Alex Simons of Kamloops.

He and 24-year-old Sydney Robillard, from Lethbridge, Alta., were travelling to Kamloops last June when their plane disappeared.

The flight began in Lethbridge and the plane was last seen in Cranbrook, where the pair stopped for fuel.

The military has said more than 70 Royal Canadian Air Force personnel and 137 volunteers were involved in the search for the plane in the days after it went missing on June 8, 2017.

Carey says the association reviews its searches to determine if there is a piece of information they can use that might help them resume a search.

"What we are looking for is new ideas," he said.

The missing plane is one of three unresolved searches for small aircraft in B.C.

Twenty-eight-year-old Alberta resident Dominic Neron and his 31-year-old girlfriend Ashley Bourgeault disappeared between Penticton and Edmonton last November, and 60-year-old Ron Boychuk disappeared in October 2007 while flying from Revelstoke to the Nanaimo area.

— Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version said new information had been found in the search for the missing flight over southeastern British Columbia.