Family of missing Hong Kong man head to Canada, still 'hoping for a miracle' after rescuers call off search

Hong Kong family members of missing British volunteer policeman Timothy Chu have flown to Canada to collect his belongings but say they are still hoping for “a miracle”, even though rescuers have called off their search for him.

The 27-year-old London Metropolitan Police special constable, who is originally from Hong Kong, was on holiday after finishing law school when he went missing on July 5 while diving near Race Rocks in Victoria, British Columbia.

Despite extensive searches conducted by official organisations and volunteers, no trace of the missing man has been found.

Timothy Chu’s brother Joshua Chu, who will join his family in Canada in August, said via email that while they were beginning to accept he was gone, there was still hope for a miracle.

“We know that when we hope for something, we are exposing ourselves to the risk of getting disappointed,” he said.

“If it is a miracle we are hoping for, the risk for disappointment is very much maximised. However, we dare to hope.”

Joshua Chu said the Search and Rescue Society of British Columbia was still looking for signs of his missing brother.

“The weather has not been cooperative over the past two weeks,” he said. “Several times they’ve deployed boats to perform shoreline searches and underwater searches with sonar but the process has been slow and many times deterred by bad weather.”

The official search was called off just one day after Timothy Chu went missing, when searchers said there was little hope of finding him alive.

Joshua Chu said the Royal Canadian Mounted Police were also continuing their investigation into the disappearance and the family had been grateful for their efforts.

“One very important goal of [our] trip is fact finding,” Chu said. “We don’t know what exactly happened on that day … We hope the police can give us a full picture based on the statements they’ve collected and their investigation thus far.

“[We will also] collect Tim’s belongings and possibly visit Race Rocks.”

Timothy Chu grew up in Hong Kong before moving to Britain to study at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

He worked as a researcher and report writer in the British parliament, while volunteering as a lance corporal in the British Army and a special constable in the Metropolitan police.

Chu said he and his family were also grateful for an online petition, started by Timothy’s church to make the Canadian government begin searching again, which broke 10,000 signatures one week ago.

“We hope something can be done to prevent this kind of heartbreaking tragedy from happening to other people and families in the future by raising awareness,” he said.