Their motto is "to seek and save." The Search and Rescue arm of Christian Aid Ministries came to the Erie waterfront on Tuesday to put their skills and high tech equipment to work in the effort to seek answers and closure in the case of missing Millcreek man, Rabin Subedi.

Subedi is the 21-year-old who was last seen Friday evening, when he was supposed to be heading to Kent, Ohio to visit his girlfriend.  He never arrived.

After a cell phone ping led investigators to his car parked near Lampe Marina, and security camera video showed a person heading into the water around 10:00 p.m. Friday, Millcreek police investigators, assisted by Erie police believe Subedi may be lost in the water.

Enter the CAM Search & Rescue team from Pennsylvania.  A dozen trained team members arrived to help, bringing along their search and rescue boats equipped with SONAR and an underwater drone with a mechanical arm.

Jon Gingerich chief of the Pennsylvania team said it's the first time the group has done a search on Lake Erie. "Correct, this is the first time we've been on the Great Lakes," he added. "We've done a lot of searches inland but first time on the Great Lakes."

While the team conducted a very focused under water search off the parking area near Lampe Campground, along Erie's south pier, the family of Rabin Subedi looked on.  Subedi and his extended family came to Erie from Bhutan in 2008, as refugees. A large contingent of the Bhutanese community joined them for much of the day on Tuesday.

The search team, assembled from Anabaptist communities in Pennsylvania and Maryland said their goal is to be the hands and feet of Christ on earth. "So we saw this as an opportunity to reach out to families that are hurting and have a need and also to provide a service to emergency agencies in local communities with equipment that they may not have, that's a gap we fill," Gingerich said

That equipment includes Klein 4900 Towfish SONAR which offers good images up to 200 feet deep, and side-scan SONAR providing good images up to 30 feet deep. "It's essentially ultrasound technology where we are doing a scan of the bottom using sound wave technology which gives us feedback to monitor," Gingerich said.

If crews notice anything of interest, they mark the area with a buoy and then send in the underwater drone to take a closer look. "It's remote operated it's got a cable attached to it, it's got a video camera, it also has a mechanical arm that we can use to retrieve targets," Gingerich said.

An Erie firefighter familiar with the work of the Seach and Rescue team recommended them to Erie Police Lt. Tony Talarico, who is overseeing the Erie search operation. 

The group's work is free of charge, and Lt. Talarico also hopes it leads to some answers and some closure for the Subedi family.  "So with this outfit coming up and helping us, we really appreciate it, Lt. Talarico said. "It's no cost at all and they’re willing to come up anytime we need them or any agency would need them.

"We just want to bring closure to the family and also reunite obviously families with their loved ones," Gingerich said.  They expect to be searching again on Wednesday, if the weather cooperates.