Efforts are shifting in the search for a small plane believed to have disappeared in the Wawa area.
The Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Trenton says an Air Task Force has been established at the Sault Ste. Marie airport to concentrate search-and-rescue resources in the search for a Piper Comanche reported overdue Thursday evening, hours after taking off from the southern community of Delhi, heading for Marathon.
Search efforts - which also include the Royal Canadian Air Force, Canadian Coast Guard, OPP, and Canada's National Civil Air Search and Rescue Association - added a CP140 Aurora Long Range Patrol aircraft late Tuesday, with the JRCC noting the aircraft's equipped with advanced sensors and cameras to aid in the search efforts.
While authorities have not identified those in the plane, reports suggest they're two men from southern Ontario, one who recently purchased the plane, while the other - who was meant to serve as co-pilot - had recently earned his pilot's license.
Searchers ask anyone who saw an aircraft flying along Highway 17 between Wawa and the Sault around 6 o'clock Thursday night to contact Search Headquarters at 613-966-1178.