'Why stop now?' Parents of missing Quebec woman call out SQ's aborted search effort
Police stopped the search operation Saturday saying it was becoming too dangerous
After 14 days of searching for Maïté Viens, a 21-year-old woman who went missing by a waterfall near Quebec City, police suspended the operation saying it's become too dangerous.
That decision has upset friends and family of Viens, who say the Sûreté du Québec is not taking advantage of the help they've mobilized.
Search and rescue teams were supposed to continue their work in the second basin of the Jean-Larose falls on Saturday, but the SQ determined it was too risky.
"Workers made it to such a depth that it could become dangerous for their safety," said Hélène Nepton, an SQ spokesperson.
On Thursday, a group of police and volunteers blocked the water that flows into one of the Jean-Larose waterfalls and began digging into the sediment below the falls with a backhoe.
"At 15-feet deep, it was no longer safe to work in those conditions because we were concerned about a leak or a mechanical breakdown. So we changed our search tactics."
Nepton said the ground search would continue later this week and that the case would remain open. She didn't rule out the possibility of continuing the search in the basin, saying they would evaluate the situation day-to-day.
For days, scuba divers combed the water below the falls looking for Viens's body, with no results.
The falls are located at the foot of Mont-Sainte-Anne in Beaupré, 40 kilometres northwest of Quebec City.
Family and friends mobilizing
Viens' mother Lancy Cummings was on the site Saturday. She told Radio-Canada that she was frustrated to hear the search had been called off.
"Yesterday, all day, we were told that everyone was safe," she said. "Why stop now? We put everything in place, we made roads, we put pumps, we mobilized people."
"We've come so far, why not take it to the end?"
Many friends and relatives of the missing woman gathered at the site over the weekend to urge the SQ to resume its operation in the water.
Organizers of the Facebook page created in Viens' memory are asking people to assemble for a protest Sunday at noon, in order to put pressure on the government to resume the search.
With files from The Canadian Press and Radio-Canada