One man is yet to be recovered after Kamloops Fire Rescue responded to a report of an overturned kayak on Sept. 3, 2024.

(LEVI LANDRY / iNFOnews.ca)

Kamloops emergency crews saved a man from drowning in the Thompson River Tuesday morning, but they couldn't find a second man.

Fully-clothed and floating on his back, the rescued man was recovered roughly 200 metres from where the two men flipped a one-person kayak near Overlanders Bridge.

"The person we did find was pretty close to going under. He was extremely exhausted, cold. He was floating on his back for quite a while it sounds like," Kamloops Fire Rescue captain Erin Holloway said.

Crews were called to the river after people could be heard yelling for help from the water around 6:45 a.m., Sept. 3. They recovered a man and a small, green plastic kayak.

RCMP and search and rescue crews continue to search for the unrecovered man. The pair were attempting to cross the river near the bridge just down river from the confluence when they overturned.

The man who was rescued was wearing a lifejacket, but the second man was not, RCMP said.

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"The water is cold and it takes people by surprise how cold it is, and it makes it really difficult to swim and stay afloat," Holloway said.

She said there have been "several" incidents over the year in the rivers that flow past Kamloops.

"The river is notorious for heavy, fast currents under the surface," she said. "Our message is always to wear a life jacket, be safe and try to avoid those currents."

Last month, Rob Griffiths of Kamloops was given an award by the fire department for saving two international students from drowning in the Thompson River near the airport, but not all rescue efforts end happily.

Earlier this year, 50-year-old Alberta man Stan Cappis was swept away in the North Thompson River as he saved two children from the water. He's presumed to have drowned on July 12, but his body has yet to be found.

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The Tuesday morning incident could be the second Kamloops area drowning in 2024 and the sixth in the Thompson-Okanagan region this year.

Authorities have responded to five in the Okanagan from July 6 to Aug. 24.

The first was in Kelowna where a man is presumed to have drowned early in the morning near the downtown marina docks.

None of the other suspected drowning victims have been identified by police but they've all been men.

That trend tracks with BC Coroners Service statistics over the last ten years, which show 80 per cent of BC drownings have been men from 2013 to 2023. The statistics show the majority of drownings take place from May to September, with the largest share in July at 13 per year across the decade.

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According to the coroners service, the Interior Health region has the largest proportion of drownings with 30% of the 858 deaths in those ten years.

Okanagan Lake surpasses all other lakes in the region with a total of 29 drownings, followed by 12 at Harrison Lake and nine in Shuswap Lake. The Fraser River, meanwhile, amassed a death toll of 51 from 2013 to 2023, followed by nine in the Thompson and eight in the Columbia.

So far this year, the majority of drownings appear to be in the Vancouver Coastal health region, according to the BC and Yukon Lifesaving Society.

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