Searchers emotional after missing teen found dead

Some of the searchers for a missing teenage athlete from a Quebec City suburb hugged and cried upon learning the news that he had been found dead.

A spokesman for the family of Alexandre Morin thanked them for their efforts.

"Without this population, it would have been impossible to find Alexandre," Louis Garneau told reporters. "... And I just want to say thank you, Quebec City, thank you everybody."

Morin's body was found at the base of a cliff near a municipal garage in Sillery, Que., a suburb of Quebec City.

His family visited the scene earlier Saturday and identified the body.

"Investigators are at the scene trying to establish the circumstances of his death,'' said Quebec City police spokeswoman Sandra Dion.

A toque has been spotted on the cliff above where Morin's body was found. However, it isn't known yet if the toque belongs to him.

The 16-year-old disappeared Wednesday just hours before a major snowstorm hit the area, dumping 50 centimetres of snow.

Close to 1,000 people had been searching for Morin since he went for a jog and didn't return home.

Volunteers, police officers, tracking dogs and a Canadian Coast Guard helicopter were all involved in the search.

Morin, a cyclist, had been training for a cycling competition in France. His training schedule included a daily run.

Police said he had epilepsy, but there is no word on whether that condition contributed to his death.

CTV Montreal's Genevieve Beauchemin said speculation abounds as to how Morin may have died.

"There is a hill where he was jogging. Perhaps he was on that road and he simply fell down, or on the other hand he could have been hit by a car and then fallen down the cliff -- he was found at the bottom of that cliff," Beauchemin told CTV Newsnet.

Beauchemin noted that foul play has not yet been ruled out.

Morin's family was devastated by the news that he had died, Beauchemin said.

"He was a 16-year-old boy, full of promise. He was an athlete who was competing and everybody said he was such a likeable boy, well-loved, and his family says that this is so tragic for them."

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