Nova Scotia kids missing for 18 days weighing heavy on community: premier [Video]

After a weekend of renewed searching for a pair of missing children in Nova Scotia, the province’s premier says the siblings’ disappearance is “weighing heavy” on the minds of people in Pictou County.

Premier Tim Houston’s riding is in the county where six-year-old Lilly Sullivan and four-year-old Jack Sullivan were reported missing more than two weeks ago.

“This is devastating,” Houston told reporters Tuesday.

“They were back out searching again this weekend and I know the authorities are running a professional, thorough search, but this is weighing heavy on the minds of certainly people in Pictou County, but well beyond as well.”

The siblings were reported missing on May 2 from their home in Lansdowne Station, N.S., about 140 kilometres northeast of Halifax.

The original search began the day the children were reported missing, but was scaled back on May 7, with police saying there was little chance the siblings could have survived several days in the heavily-wooded area.

The RCMP also said …