Province seeks copy of Winters search tapes

The Newfoundland and Labrador government has officially requested a copy of military audio recordings related to the search for a Labrador teenager.

The tapes were obtained by CBC News through access to information legislation, and raised questions about how officials had responded in the earliest hours of the search for Makkovik teenager Burton Winters, whose frozen body was found outside the community on Feb. 1.

The Department of Municipal Affairs has confirmed for CBC News that it did not listen to the recordings - which involved conversations from the military's Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Halifax - when it completed its own review on the search for Winters.

That review concluded proper procedures had been followed.

No explanation has been offered as to why the Department of National Defence recordings were not part of the provincial government's review.

Meanwhile, CBC also asked for the audio of the call made by the RCMP in Makkovik to police support services in St. John's on the first night Winters went missing, on Jan. 29.

The RCMP said that conversation was not recorded, as the call was placed to the home of an officer and not to RCMP headquarters.

The Winters family and their supporters have been calling for an inquiry into how officials responded to calls for help. Military aircraft did not join the search for two days, and provincial Fire and Emergency Services officials were not contacted until the morning after the first call was made.