A provincial rescue team has joined in a massive search to find a missing 12-year-old autistic boy in Grand Forks.
John Fulton was last seen on the steps of his family home on Saturday afternoon around 5:30 p.m. The boy, who lives with his mother, has no history of leaving home.
Sgt. Jim Harrison told ctvbc.ca RCMP search teams have come up empty-handed searching the area.
"It's been an extensive search effort. We had search officers on the ground at the first instance going door-to-door."
Harrison said RCMP helicopters were brought in to conduct a full air search of the area Sunday when initial ground searches failed.
"It's a very rural community and he actually lives in a little condo complex on the west side of town surrounded by open fields and a river to the south," he said.
"We were worried he may have gone in the river, but the air search put that to rest."
Castlegar Search and Rescue, dispatched through the Provincial Emergency Program (PEP) arrived late Sunday and have set up a staging area along Highway 3.
"They activated a full-scale search this morning. We're asking anyone who wants to join the search not to go out on their own - we don't want to have to search for the searchers."
So far, more than 100 people in the tiny Kootenays community have volunteered to help.
Harrison said U.S. border and customs agents, who patrol the border community, have stepped up patrols and have sent out a search team of nine officers.
Three hundred flyers with pictures and a description of the little boy have been distributed throughout the community.
Fulton is described as five-foot-two, 100 pounds, with blonde hair. He was last seen wearing blue cutoff shorts and an orange top. He is a high-functioning autistic.
Anyone with information about the whereabouts of John Fulton, or information about his disappearance, please contact Grand Forks RCMP at 250-442-8288.
