6:55 p.m. update Fran Walsh, communications officer for the Algoma District School Board, responded to questions with the following:
“Algoma District School Board is aware of an incident today at a local school. We are unable to comment further as we investigate and confirm details,” said Walsh in an email.
Original story
A four-year-old child has been found safe shortly after being put on the wrong bus at the end of the day at Anna McCrea Public School.
Sault Police spokesperson Lincoln Louttit said the call for service came in about 4 p.m. at the east end school.
"A child is believed to have gone missing but has been located safely," said Louttit.
He confirmed the missing child was four years old.
A frantic search began for the young child after he was discovered to be missing, with students engaged in after school extra-curricular activities asked to pitch in and scan the school grounds.
Multiple units from the Sault Ste. Marie Police Service and Batchewana First Nation Police sped to the Mark Street elementary school and at about 4:25 p.m. a school bus pulled up to the front of the school. The young child stepped out from the doors and into the arms of tearful family.
A man who carried the child to a vehicle confirmed he had gotten on a bus that he wasn't supposed to be on.
After the child was found, Anna McCrea principal Shari-Lynne Zuke declined to comment on how the four-year-old child was allowed to get on the wrong bus.
SooToday reached out to the Algoma District School Board for comment and will add to the story as more information becomes available.