Tragedy averted on Osoyoos Lake | iNFOnews | Thompson-Okanagan's News Source
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Tragedy averted on Osoyoos Lake

The bridge on Main St. in Osoyoos looking toward Haines Point where three intoxicated people jumped into the lake and almost drowned.
Image Credit: SOURCE/Google Street View

Some quick thinking tourists saved lives in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Osoyoos RCMP say a late night swim almost turned tragic for a group of people that had been drinking.

At about 1:43 a.m., several people had jumped from the bridge on Main Street and had been swept out into Osoyoos Lake.

Two officers from the Osoyoos detachment grabbed the police boat to rescue the man and two women who were being swept toward Haynes Point, screaming for help in the dark. They weren’t wearing life jackets.

The officers asked for help from a Burnaby man who had a boat nearby. Three men on shore also heard the screams for help and paddled a small dingy out into the lake to help.

The men from Coquitlam, Port Moody and Forest Grove pulled a 24 year old woman from Grand Forks into their boat just as the other 2 rescue boats were arriving.

A Kelowna man was found and thrown a life vest as he struggled to stay afloat. The exhausted 28 year old was eventually rescued by the officers in the police boat.

The woman, a 28 year old from Kelowna, was clinging to the side of the dingy and was pulled into the private boat.

B.C. Ambulance paramedics checked over the near-drowning victims on shore. They were cold but otherwise alright.

“The 3 subjects are very fortunate to have been located and rescued in the dark. The strong current had pushed them far out into the lake and more than half way to Haynes Point,” says RCMP Sgt. Kevin Schur.

“Alcohol and water are a bad combination and had it not been for the quick response and efforts from the men from shore with the dingy, the private boat operator, Osoyoos RCMP officers and police boat this could have ended in a triple tragedy.”

To contact the reporter for this story email halexander@infotelnews.ca or call (250) 491-0331.

Osoyoos Lake where three drunk individuals were rescued by police and citizens early Saturday morning.
Osoyoos Lake where three drunk individuals were rescued by police and citizens early Saturday morning.
Image Credit: SOURCE/Google Earth
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