Tragedy strikes B.C. Day weekend as man drowns in Shuswap Lake

The B.C. Day long weekend got off to a tragic start when a 26-year-old Alberta man drowned in Shuswap Lake this morning (Friday) after falling into the waters of Magna Bay while doing boat maintenance.

RCMP E-division spokesman Cpl. Dan Moskaluk said Chase police and B.C. Ambulance were called to the scene at about 8:45 a.m.

The man was working on a runabout boat moored to a buoy about 30 feet from shore. Moskaluk said witnesses reported seeing the man in some kind of medical distress, then fall into the water.

Bystanders immediately tried to help the man, but had no luck finding him even by free-diving.

A local diver familiar with the area volunteered with the search and found the man's body at the lake bottom, 45 feet from the surface.

The man was declared dead at the scene and his death is being investigated by Chase RCMP and the B.C. Coroner's office. Drugs and alcohol are not believed to be factors.

The drowning was the first in B.C. in nine days, but Dale Miller, executive director of the Life Saving Society, B.C. and Yukon Branch, told The Daily News the August long weekend is always a time when vacationers should be extra careful.

“More people are out on the water over the long weekend so the likelihood of a drowning is going to increase,” he said.

Miller urged holidayers to focus on preparation and prevention.

“Think to yourself that it's possible you might end up in the water,” he said, noting that about half of all drownings in the province involve people falling from boats without life jackets.

Others involve swimmers not knowing their limits, who “might feel they can swim a particular distance and decide to give it a try, but can't get back. We encourage the buddy system.”

Knowledge of basic first aid can mean the difference between life and death.

Miller said 80 per cent of drownings involve men, and 60 per cent people over 35 years of age.

“It used to be the young risk takers. Now we're seeing it's males over 35.”

Almost half of all boating accidents involve alcohol.

The Shuswap tragedy comes the week after Drowning Prevention Week and occurred on the same day the Sicamous RCMP launched a “floating detachment” in conjunction with Transport Canada and B.C.'s ministries of environment and forests and range.

The “detachment” is based at Cinnemousun Narrows provincial park on Shuswap Lake. But the enforcement agencies will have five or more vessels out on various parts of the lake system throughout the long weekend.

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