The body of Rene Bourgault was found in Kicking Horse River near Golden over the weekend.
Image Credit: Facebook
August 17, 2015 - 4:57 PM
KELOWNA – Less than a month before he was set to be married, a young Kelowna man has drowned while white-water rafting near Golden over the weekend.
Rene Bourgault was rafting with three other people in Kicking Horse River Sunday, Aug. 16 when the group was thrown into the water roughly ten kilometres east of Golden. Three of the rafters managed to get to the shore safely however B.C. Coroners Service spokesperson Barb McLintock says the body of the fourth man was found downstream.
She says they are still trying to determine how the accident happened.
“They were in a stretch of heavy, heavy rapids when something went wrong,” she says. “All four of them ended up in the water. Three of them managed to escape the current and get safely on the other side.”
The fourth man, she says, was carried half a kilometre downstream where he was found by rescuers.
“Unfortunately by then it was too late,” she says.
He has been identified on Facebook as Bourgault, who owns SynLawn, a synthetic lawn company in Kelowna. According to his Facebook page he was set to marry his fiancé on Sept. 12.
To contact the reporter for this story, email Adam Proskiw at aproskiw@infonews.ca or call 250-718-0428. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.
News from © iNFOnews, 2015