Dunderdale lays into MacKay

[Newfoundlander]

So we’re talking a mater of hours that the boy was walking on sea ice, overnight in winter…….my point still stands, he likely went to sleep and never woke-up………Again, I fail to see how DND and/or the MND are to blame if they were not contacted until the next day………

It shouldn't take 30 hours to respond to a request for help though. Whether the boy would have survived is not the issue for me because we will never know, but the next time a request goes in it shouldn't take 30 hours to get help.

Edited May 24, 2012 by Newfoundlander

[Guest Derek L]

It shouldn't take 30 hours to respond to a request for help though. Whether the boy would have survived is not the issue for me because we will never know, but the next time a request goes in it shouldn't take 30 hours to get help.

DND tapes question N.L. role in search for lost boy on ice

With volunteers on snowmobiles already looking for the 14-year-old, police said they didn't request air support from provincial officials until Monday morning.

It's up to the province to determine if the military is needed for air searches.

But recordings released to CBC News suggest RCMP in Makkovik did ask the province for help the day Winters was reported missing, but were told to call back in the morning.

One of the recordings released by the Department of National Defence to CBC News includes a conversation on the third day of the search. It’s between RCMP Cpl. Kimball Vardy in Labrador and a military search and rescue dispatcher, Capt. Kristin MacDonald, in Nova Scotia.

MacDonald tells Vardy to contact EMO — the provincial Emergency Measures Organization now known as Fire and Emergency Services (FES) — to arrange aircraft for first light.

"I think EMO should try to make some arrangements tonight so they're not caught off guard in the morning," said MacDonald.

An obviously frustrated Vardy responds that he doesn't believe EMO will start making preparations that night:

"You know what? They won't even do it. I tried to do that the first time, they said, 'Oh no, call us back in the morning, call us back in the morning,'" said Vardy, explaining that the RCMP had been down this road with EMO before on that first, crucial night of searching for Winters.

"We went through that the very first day. We requested it that night, they never even looked at anything until eight o'clock the next morning, and I don't think they were here until after 10 a.m. or ... no, it was actually almost one o'clock in the afternoon before the helicopter arrived."

EMO = Provincial body, not DND or the Federal Government.