Bert Kent (left), Bob Reid (middle, and Tom Blaire helped pull a woman from the South Thompson River about 5 p.m today.
Image Credit: InfoTel Multimedia
(JESSICA WALLACE / iNFOnews.ca)
January 23, 2013 - 6:52 PM
A woman was rescued from the South Thompson River today by three men at a nearby pub who just happened to notice her break through the ice.
Tom Blair and two teammates in the Kamloops Old Timers Hockey Tournament were having a beer at a pub in the Anavets clubhouse, the former Beachhouse Restaurant, on Tranquille Road. From the window, Blair caught a glance of the woman as she fell into the river while chasing her two dogs onto the ice.
"I watched for a second," he said. He then ran from the pub to the riverbank, found a stick and went after her.
"I just said hang on as hard as you can," he said.
Friends Bob Reid and Bert Kent ran after him and sprawled out on the ice to help pull them all out. One of them fell through the ice before others from the pub rushed out to help.
"In that situation, you do what has to be done," Reid said.
He said he was concerned not just about the woman, at that point, but for his friend Blair as well.
The four people—and the two dogs—were brought to shore safely. The unidentified woman left in an ambulance.
The men? They returned soaking wet to the pub where they warmed up in front of the fireplace—Reid with his socks and shoes off—to finish their beer. Not exactly what they mean by a cold one.
"We're freezing," Blair said.
— Jessica Wallace
jwallace@infotelnews.ca
(250)319-7494
News from © iNFOnews, 2013