UPDATE: The search for a man believed drowned in Osoyoos Lake has been called off. A body has not been recovered and the man is still missing, said Sgt. Randy Bosch, commander of the Osoyoos RCMP Detachment on Thursday morning.
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Members of the RCMP dive team continued their search Monday afternoon for a man reported missing on Osoyoos Lake late Sunday evening.
Sgt. Randy Bosch, the recently-appointment detachment commander for the Osoyoos RCMP detachment, confirmed police were looking for a missing 34-year-old man who was reported missing after losing control of his Wave Runner around 6 p.m. Sunday evening.
“We have a good idea of where he went missing … we’re trying to pinpoint the exact location,” said Bosch.
RCMP divers were prepared to begin the search early Monday morning, but faced delays after rain and thunder covered Osoyoos Lake.
“The weather has been an issue, but we’re hoping to have the dive team continue the search this afternoon,” said Bosch.
It doesn’t appear the missing man was wearing a lifejacket at the time of the accident, said Bosch.
The man was reported missing after a female passenger on the Wave Runner was found floating in the middle of the lake.
Ken Baker, a veteran salesperson with the Osoyoos Times newspaper, was out sailing on his sailboat with several friends Sunday evening when they came across a young lady floating on the north side of Osoyoos Lake.
“She had her lifejacket on and was floating in the middle of the lake … she was trying to chase down the Wave Runner that was floating away from her,” said Baker. “We could see there was no key in the ignition and the Wave Runner was floating on its own.
The young woman told Baker and his friends that she was an acquaintance of the man who was driving and that he had lost control of the vessel, forcing both of them to fall off into the water.
“At first she told us she thought he was wearing a lifejacket and then she thought he might not be,” said Baker. “If he was wearing a lifejacket, I think we would have found him pretty quickly because she told us she had only been in the water for a couple of minutes when we arrived.”
Baker said he and his friends managed to recover a floating dufflebag believed to belong to the missing man that included fins, a mask, flip flops and a blanket.
Several other boat owners quickly gathered and began a grid search of the lake for the next two hours, said Baker.
Cpl. Jason Bayda of the Osoyoos RCMP detachment arrived and asked Baker to take the young lady to the hotel she was staying at in Osoyoos, said Baker.
Bayda then went to talk to potential witnesses at the popular White Sands beach on Osoyoos Lake, said Baker.
Baker said he kept the GPS co-ordinates on his sailboat and gave them to members of the RCMP dive team when they first arrived near the Town of Osoyoos marina early Monday morning.
Everyone involved in the frantic search for the missing man was upset when they had to leave the scene once darkness fell Sunday evening, said Baker.
“I had trouble sleeping last night,” he said. “We really wanted to find him.”
Bosch said police won’t be revealing any more details about the missing man until next of kin are notified.
Anyone who may have witnessed this incident or have more information is asked to contact the Osoyoos RCMP detachment at 250-495-7236.
KEITH LACEY
Osoyoos Times
