Update: Kayaker’s body found off Vancouver Island
Posted December 18, 2016 3:54 pm.
Last Updated December 18, 2016 7:53 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Update:
Comox Search and Rescue confirm the body of the kayaker has been found near where he was last seen alive.
His body was found by the RCMP dive team.
No name has been released, but he was a local man, in his early twenties.
COMOX (NEWS 1130) – The RCMP has taken over the search for a missing kayaker who fell into waters off the east coast of Vancouver Island late last night.
Comox Valley Ground Search and Rescue says two young men launched from Union Bay just after midnight planning to paddle to nearby Tree Island.
The pair ran into trouble almost immediately, and ended up falling into the frigid ocean.
“One was able to get to shore just north of Union Bay and flag down a car, and that sent out the alarm,” says search manager Paul Berry.
Multiple rescue teams and the coast guard worked through the night, and while they located the kayaks much further north from where the pair entered the water, they could not find the missing man.
In current conditions, Berry says it would only take one to two hours to pass out after hitting the water.
“It would be very difficult to have survived this amount of time in the water,” he adds.
RCMP dive teams are now combing the area where the man went missing, and further search efforts continue along the shorelines.
The man who made it to shore was treated for hypothermia in hospital and has since been released.
