RANKIN INLET, Nunavut — The case of a missing seven-year-old boy appeared to have ended in tragedy Thursday.

Mounties reported they had found a body Wednesday night near a baseball diamond on the shoreline of the Nunavut hamlet.

They also said they had called off the search for Joabie Kadlak.

"At present we're investigating the suspicious death of a male child,'' said Rankin Inlet RCMP Const. Sean O'Brien.

"Rankin Inlet RCMP have secured a scene and right now V Division identification section is at the scene and the V Division major crimes unit is in town and an investigation is underway.''

Police did not release the name of the boy or any other details pending notification of family.

But they acknowledged the search for Joabie had ended.

Residents had been combing the hamlet of 2,000 on the northwest shore of Hudson Bay since the boy failed to show up for school Wednesday.

They were shocked to hear a body had been found in an area along the shore where boats are stored for the winter.

A official with the Kivalliq Inuit Association said the mood of the close-knit community was sombre and that residents were struggling to comprehend the situation.

"We don't have too many things of this nature,'' said the man, who didn't identify himself. "It is hard enough to lose a young person, but the apparent circumstances around it are pretty unbelievable.''

He said he had been out with his family searching for Joabie Wednesday night until about 10 p.m.

"The community did pull together. It is an amazing story in itself. Everywhere you drove around town or walked there were people walking. There were people on four wheelers. There were people on the sea ice. There were people in their trucks. There were people walking in lines.

"Everywhere you turned there was somebody who was searching.''

Lyne Toner, a hamlet official, said the boy's mother became worried when he didn't come home from school Tuesday, but hoped he was sleeping over at a friend's house and forgot to tell her.