Quebec provincial police continue to search the banks of a river southeast of Quebec City for a Ukrainian refugee missing since Wednesday.

Sgt. Jean Raphael Drolet says officers are searching the shoreline of the Etchemin River near St-Anselme, Que., assisted by a police helicopter.

Drolet says officers will continue searching on the ground but not inside the water because divers determined the current was too strong -- as has been the case since Thursday.

The Ukrainian Canadian Congress has said the missing man is 21 years old and has a mother, twin brother and younger brother in Canada.

A local community group that helps immigrants settle into the region south of the provincial capital has said the man's mother told police on Wednesday that her son went missing after he went swimming in the river.

Authorities have been searching for the missing man since Thursday morning.

- This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 24, 2023.