An excavator from the Sewerage & Water Board of New Orleans scooped mounds of water lilies from a canal in the Village De L'Est neighborhood on Monday as authorities continued their search for Bryan Vasquez, a 12-year-old nonverbal boy with autism who wandered away from his home five days ago.

The search teams on Monday also included an airboat with sonar, bloodhounds from the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, the New Orleans Fire Department, officials from the St. Charles and St. Bernard Parish Sheriff's Office, as well as an army of community volunteers who've been combing the neighborhood looking for the boy with little to no sleep.

"Until this baby is found, I don't think we will," said Cristiane Rosales-Fajardo, a neighborhood resident and community activist with El Pueblo Nol

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