Image: Facebook/Royal Canadian Mounted Police

The RCMP believe it has found the body of the 31-year-old man who went missing earlier this week while tubing on the Gold River just outside of Chester.

The man was with some friends when their tubes capsized in part due to the high water levels caused by the weekend’s floods. He was last seen drifting down the river holding onto the tube after his friends had made it safely to shore.

Officials mounted a massive search and rescue operation, but it was suspended on July 25^th, when the police announced that they believed he had been swept out to sea.

It wasn’t until this morning when a member of the public noticed a body floating in the water near where the Gold River meets the ocean. Crews responded to the scene and pulled the remains from the water and have tentatively identified them as the missing Gold River swimmer.

Investigators are working with the Nova Scotia Medical Examiner’s Office on positively identifying the body.