Major search effort for two missing men in plane

Search and rescue crews are ramping up efforts to find two men after their plane did not arrive at its destination in northern Ontario on Thursday night, military officials say.

The Piper Comanche aircraft took off around 3:45 p.m. April 14 from a small aerodrome in Delhi, Ont., bound for Marathon, Canadian Armed Forces public affairs officer Maj. Trevor Reid told CTV News in a phone interview Monday morning.

When the plane didn't reach its destination, the NAVCAN flight information centre in London, Ont. contacted the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre (JRCC) Trenton around 6:45 p.m., Reid said.

Search efforts began that night around 8 p.m.

Because weather conditions hampered visibility on Thursday and Friday, crews were doing electronic searches for the aircraft along the flight plan with focus in an area near Wawa, 60 kilometres north of Sault Ste. Marie, about where the plane was last seen on the radar and aircraft tracking components, Reid added.

"Unfortunately, difficult, hilly terrain and fresh snowfall on an already deep base of snow -- up to five feet in some places -- is making the search challenging," Reid said in a statement to CTV News.

Several aircraft were deployed on Saturday and Sunday when the weather improved.

"An RCAF CH146Griffon crew conducted a night search (using NVGs) last night, but without success. This morning we have (from the RCAF) a CC130H Hercules airplane, a CH146 Griffon helicopter and a CH149Cormorant helicopter searching. They are being joined by a Canadian Coast Guard Bell 429 helicopter an Ontario Provincial Police EC135 helicopter and two Civil Air Search and Rescue Association airplanes. CASARA members have also been traveling local roads in the region with Emergency Locator Transmitter detectors," Reid said.

The public affairs officer said the pair's next of kin do not want the names of the two missing individuals released despite what might be circulating on social media.

CTV News has reached out to people who have identified themselves as family members on social media. 

Reid told CTV News in a phone interview Monday afternoon that the arrival of snow showers in the search area has posed a challenge for the helicopters, but the Hercules airplane is still out searching for an emergency locator transmitter signal.