Search For Missing Trudeau Called Off

Thu., Nov. 19, 1998

From Staff

Weather once again played havoc with efforts to find the body of Michel Trudeau, the youngest son of former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, forcing officials to cancel the search Wednesday.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police had planned to use a tiny robot submarine to search the deep waters of Kokanee Lake. But the search was called off for the day because low clouds and snow at the 6,300-foot-high lake grounded the helicopters used to shuttle people and equipment.

Trudeau is presumed drowned after he and a hiking companion were swept into the lake by an avalanche last Friday.

The five-member RCMP dive team battled hypothermia and breaking ice during an initial underwater search Tuesday. They concluded a remotely operated submersible was the best way to continue scouring the lake, 300 feet deep in places.

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