Osoyoos RCMP Sgt. Jason Bayda (centre) spoke to media on Monday afternoon about the fatal boat collision that claimed two lived on Osoyoos Lake on Saturday evening. (Vanessa Broadbent / Osoyoos Times)

By Vanessa Broadbent

Osoyoos Times

It’s still not clear what caused a fatal boat collision on Osoyoos Lake on Saturday evening, and it could take awhile to find out, according to Osoyoos RCMP Sgt. Jason Bayda.

“It’s going to be a lengthy investigation,” he told media at Haynes Point on Monday afternoon.

“This isn’t like a car accident where there’s skid marks on the road. Water is different.”

The accident took place after 7 p.m. on Saturday evening and claimed the lives of two visiting fishermen, a 35-year-old man from Kamloops and a 36-year-old man from Maple Ridge.

Three other men were hospitalized, two in critical condition and one in stable condition.

Bayda praised bystanders who hurried out into the water on boats and rescued the men.

“Those three people that were saved were saved because of those people willing to step up and help,” he said.

“Any time you have the public coming out to help like this we appreciate it and I’m sure those people do as well.”

Osoyoos resident Rick Propp helped bring one of the men to shore. A neighbour knocked on his door, told him about the accident and asked if they could use Propp’s boat to go and help.

“You could see debris in the water so we went over, then the kids were waving. They were holding onto the bow of the fishing boat,” Propp said.

One of the men was pulled into Propp’s boat and the other two onto a skiff.

Propp noticed the man was bleeding and injured, and said he seemed to be in shock.

“I don’t think we realized how bad it was until we pulled them out. They were so in shock that they didn’t realize.”

The men were brought to shore on the west side of the lake near Magnolia Place and taken to hospital. Their current condition is not known, Bayda said.

As for how the collision happened, RCMP have no concrete answers.

“We’ve heard lots of different things and right now we’re simply just not going to speculate,” Bayda said.

“We’re going to let our analysts who are the professionals look at all the evidence … By the end of it we’ll know what happened here.”

Now RCMP are focusing on gathering evidence. Both of the boats, which sank following the crash, have been recovered and taken to a compound where marine analysts will examine the watercraft.

Underwater divers will continue to scan the bottom of the lake for more clues.

“They will at this point take in all the evidence, gather more, and it’s really a fact-finding mission now,” Bayda said.

“We’re really hoping that those that actually saw the accident or even the boats previous to the accident will call us. Anyone that has video surveillance around their house, security cameras, if you can view those, really, anything could be important to us.”

Anyone with information can contact the RCMP at 250-495-7236.

RCMP have recovered two boats involved in a fatal collision on Osoyoos Lake on Saturday evening. (Vanessa Broadbent / Osoyoos Times)

RCMP have recovered two boats involved in a fatal collision on Osoyoos Lake on Saturday evening. (Vanessa Broadbent / Osoyoos Times)