The coast guard鈥檚 search for a plane that was intended to carry a couple from Penticton to Edmonton will officially be called off as of Monday afternoon.

The single-engine Mooney plane was flown by Dominic Neron, 28, along with his girlfriend Ashley Bourgeault.

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In a statement on its Facebook page, Maritime Forces Pacific said the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre Victoria has 鈥渕ade the difficult decision to suspend their search today as of 15:30 PST, and transfer the case to the RCMP.鈥�

鈥淥ver the last nine days, Royal Canadian Air Force and Parks Canada aircraft have flown approximately 120 hours in extremely challenging weather and conditions, covering more than 22,000 square kilometres in the areas surrounding the last known location, and likely flight path, of the missing plane,鈥� the Facebook post says.

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鈥淭he JRCC Victoria acknowledges the support we have received from Parks Canada and CASARA, and the information provided by Telus, Rogers, NavCanada and NORAD, which greatly assisted in narrowing the search area.

鈥淥ur thoughts are with the families and loved ones during this extremely difficult time.鈥�

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