After seven days of fruitless searching, Ontario Provincial Police have called off their hunt for a man reported missing in the bush in northwestern Ontario.
Aju Iroaga, 26, who was employed with A&M Reforestation, a Sudbury-based company, was last seen around 4:30 pm Monday May 15, about 70 kilometres north of White River. Iroaga originally hails from southern Ontario.
OPP Const. Karen Farand said although the search was being called off, police haven't discounted the possibility that Iroaga may have found his own way out of the bush and back to civilization without notifying authorities.
Police were using canine units and emergency response teams to track Iroaga. Foul play is not suspected.
According to Paul Thususka, part owner and general manager of A&M Reforestation, Iroaga was an experienced tree planter who hailed from southern Ontario.
Thususka said his site supervisor told him Iroaga had quit his job Monday, and apparently tried to walk out of the woods on his own, as opposed to waiting for a ride.
"We're hoping for the best," he said.
"If he had waited another hour-and-a-half before he got up and left, there was a ride down to town (White River) for him because every day the crew leaves the bush and goes into town," said Thususka.
"Our duty of care extends to our work site and our buses or any of our vehicles as well as our camp site. Now if somebody chooses to leave that site of their own volition, there's nothing we can do.
"Our policy is to drive somebody to town where there's a phone, a hotel and a bus that comes by," he said, adding Iroaga was aware of the policy.
Thususka said his crews looked for Iroaga and decided to contact police when they couldn't find him.
Iroaga is six feet tall, between 180 and 200 pounds, and was wearing a hooded camouflage sweater, blue jeans, brown shoes, a green Tilley hat and a black toque.
Anyone with information is asked to phone the OPP at 1-888-310-1122.
