The ongoing search for a missing 10-year-old girl who fell into a creek here has shaken this small community, prompting residents and officials to rally behind emergency crews and the family.
“It’s hitting the community very hard,” said West Perth Mayor Walter McKenzie. “The feeling is support for the family that’s involved. Everybody feels so sad. It’s just a terrible situation to have happened.”
The 10-year-old girl, whose name has not been made public, fell through the ice on Whirl Creek just before 10:30 a.m. Sunday, West Perth fire Chief Bill Hunter said that day. Search and rescue crews from West Perth, St. Marys and Stratford responded, Hunter said, adding an OPP helicopter, drones and a canine unit also assisted.
“There hasn’t been a lot of change” in the search for the child since then, Hunter said Monday. “The OPP search and recovery team have been in the water since 7:30 a.m.,” he said.
As the search for the child continued, some restaurant owners, including one of the owners of New Orleans Pizza on Mitchell’s main strip, jumped in to help feed searchers.
“We put some (pizzas) together and we ran it over to them” Sunday morning and again on Monday, Chad Wilding said. He estimates he’s delivered more than 10 pizzas during the last 24 hours, including to the missing girl’s family, as he’s done in past emergencies.
Asked why, Wilding pointed to the tight-knit community: “There is no ‘why;’ it’s just what we do.”
Provincial police, ambulances and West Perth firefighters blocked off stretches of area roads along Whirl Creek, just east of the heart of Mitchell, as the search continued Monday.
Steadying himself against the railing of a bridge on Road 160, near Frank Street, firefighter Jody Catalan scanned a section of the creek through his binoculars. “(We’re) trying to do the best we can, but it’s a helpless feeling,” he said.
Monday’s weather, including a mix of rain and snow, made the search effort more challenging, police said.
“Given the weather conditions, there are some units that are not able to attend, but we do have a number of teams . . . working today,” said Perth OPP spokesperson Const. Jillian Johnson.
There’s been no change in the status of the search, officials said Monday.
No information has been released about the missing girl, including her name or where she goes to school, said Avon Maitland District school board’s Chera Langston. But officials are offering mental health support to pupils and staff at Mitchell’s Upper Thames elementary school.
“We have deployed mental health counsellors to the school,” she said. “It’s a very small community, so regardless of where the child goes to school, the entire (community is) impacted.”
Ronyn Brown, who works at a local gas station, said he’s still holding out hope. “I just hope she’s OK,” said the 16-year-old.
