Stomach 'in knots,' says sister of 1 of 2 Alberta-bound men on plane that vanished in Wawa, Ont., area

Search-and-rescue efforts entered their fourth day Monday in Ontario's north after a plane carrying two men vanished.

John Fehr and Brian Slingerland disappeared on Thursday evening after the plane went missing in the Wawa, Ont. area near Sault Ste. Marie. 

The pair took off with the plane, which was purchased by Slingerland, from the township of Delhi in southern Ontario.

Mary Reimer, Fehr's sister, said the pair's intended destination was Marathon, Ont., a stop on their way back to Alberta. Fehr was meant to co-pilot the aircraft. 

Reimer, who lives in Vienna, Ont., near Aylmer, said her brother earned his pilot's licence recently, and always loved the idea of flying. 

The heavy snowfall on the ground, up to five feet in some parts, has made air search difficult.— Maj. Trevor Reid, Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre 

"Stomach is all in knots. Everybody, including myself, is just anxiously waiting yet afraid of what we might get, you know, when the news does come," Reimer said. 

"Just waiting. Just waiting and not knowing. That's the hardest thing right now, is waiting and not knowing." 

Reimer said that when she spoke with Fehr's wife Lisa earlier Monday, she had said the family was "hanging onto hope." The couple, Reimer said, share six children.

Maj. Trevor Reid, senior public affairs officer with the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Trenton, Ont., said about 85 people are part of the ground and air search-and-rescue operation through the centre, Royal Canadian Air Force, Ontario Provincial Police, Canadian Coast Guard, and the Civil Air Search and Rescue Association (CASARA). But weather conditions over the past several days have not been favourable. 

"The heavy snowfall on the ground, up to five feet [about 1.5 metres] in some parts has made air search difficult," Reid said.  

"As well, the terrain in that general area is quite rough and it's posing a challenge for some of our ground search-and-rescue partners." 

Reid said rescue teams were searching for an emergency locator transmitter (ELT) signal from the plane, but so far were not successful. 

While the weather has posed difficulties, Reid said it has improved and he is hopeful that it will continue to hold as crews continue their search. 

'There's not a whole lot we can do'

Reimer said from her knowledge, her brother is not familiar with the northern Ontario terrain. "I think he knew though that it was pretty much wilderness about that." 

She said the moral and financial support have been incredible from both community members and strangers across Canada. 

She said five of her other brothers were preparing to join the search should it continue.

"It makes us feel like we're at least doing something," she said, "It's good to have people out there and willing to help, especially my own family.

"There's not a whole lot we can do here. We're praying. Praying a lot."