Massive search planned for missing boy in canal

More than 200 law enforcers from several agencies will conduct a large one-day search for the 8-year-old boy who fell into a Jordan River surplus canal two weeks ago and is presumed drowned.

On Thursday, members of the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Search and Rescue Team will be joined by officers from Salt Lake City, West Valley City, the Department of Public Safety and others to look for the body of Trejon Fite.

Fite was playing with several friends June 13 on a large pipe that stretches across the canal near the corner of California Avenue and Redwood Road, when he slipped, fell in and was swept away by the fast-flowing water.

Search crews scoured the banks and the canal between one mile to a mile and a half for a week, but they did not find the boy.

Thursday's search, which will include the use of aircraft, boats and sonar equipment, will stretch from the spot where Fite fell in the water all the way to the Great Salt Lake, Hutson said, a distance of about 15 miles.

The canal is about 60 feet wide and in some spots 18 feet deep. The search will get under way at 6 a.m.

— Pat Reavy