Search in Baddeck called off after two boaters found safe

A helicopter and Canadian Coast Guard vessel searched through the night Sunday over the Bras d'Or Lakes near Baddeck, N.S., for two boaters who were believed to be missingbut were found safe Monday morning.

RCMP saidtwo men in their 30s put a small aluminum boat with an outboard motor into the water across the road from the Cabot Trail Motel around 4:30 p.m. Sunday. The men also had a small dog with them.

When the men didn't return to the area where they launched their boat, someone who didn't know them reported that they were overdue.

Lt.-Cmdr.Brian Owens ofthe Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre said the centre received a call at 10 p.m. Sunday and dispatched a CH-149 Cormorant helicopter from 14 Wing Greenwood to search the water and shoreline. A Canadian Coast Guard vessel was also sent to look for the men.

On Monday morning, Owens said the men were "safe and sound" and were never overdue or in any distress. The men had gonecamping and got picked up by someone at a different location on the lakes, he said.

It is the second time this summer there has been a search on the Bras d'Or Lakes.

In late July, a 24-year-old man from Whitney Pier died following anaccident on personal watercraft. The man's body was recovered from the shoreline near Ross Ferry.