Friends and family are hoping that search crews will be able to find a 55-year-old Squamish man who has gone missing in Manitoba.
On Aug. 16, crews were scheduled to search the waterways for Keith Zajac, who was last seen in Brandon, Man. The volunteer search team was expected to comb the Assiniboine River for signs of Zajac.
"They're sailing out," said Sandy Yates, a friend of the Zajac family. "I believe there are four or five people going out to search the river. So they have jetskis and airboats. And that's their plan."
It's the latest effort to find Zajac, a 20-year resident of Squamish. Previously, a large ground search involving police, dogs, and drones had occurred in Brandon, and Zajac's family and friends have raised money to hire a private investigator to help track the missing man.
Still, there is no word of where he is.
Zajac was officially reported missing on Aug. 2. On Aug. 5, RCMP issued a news release asking the public for help finding him. Mounties said Zajac was driving from Squamish to Fort Frances, Ont., when he went missing. It is believed he spent the night of July 31 at the Super 8 Hotel in Brandon, Man.
Zajac last made contact with family via phone on July 31.
Leading up to that, Zajac appeared to be having problems with the hot weather, which, at the time, was triggering heat warnings from Environment Canada.
"He had been feeling sick. I think he'd been throwing up… he was a bit worried that he might have had heatstroke, because the car that he was driving in didn't have any air conditioning," Yates said.
Police found Zajac's abandoned vehicle on the shoulder of Highway 1 in the municipality of Whitehead.
The primary theory is that Zajac was experiencing distress as a result of the heat, became disoriented, and then got lost, said Yates. Zajac does not have a history of mental health issues, medical conditions or drug use.
Yates said the last credible sightings of Zajac occurred on Aug. 1, the day after his stay in the Super 8. There were three reports.
First, in the early morning, he was seen on foot in the woods in Brandon near the Assiniboine River. A bystander checked on him, but he said he was fine.
Then he was seen again in Brandon on the Trans-Canada Highway, looking as if he was attempting to hitchhike a ride eastbound. He was seen again on the Trans-Canada slightly west of Brandon, seemingly trying to hitchhike westbound.
On Aug. 5, after officers and family had been pinging Zajac's phone, it was handed in to officers by people who had somehow come across it, Yates said. It's unclear how they got ahold of Zajac's phone.
There haven't been any solid leads on Zajac's location since then.
Yates said that they are hoping to unlock the phone, which may have some clues as to where Zajac ended up.
If you have information on his whereabouts, please call Blue Hills RCMP at 204-726-7522, call Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-8477 or share tips online at www.manitobacrimestoppers.com.
