It’s been a year since a Kelowna man died while captaining a tugboat for Tolko Industries mill on Okanagan Lake and a full grasp of what happened that night has yet to be made clear.
Ivor Lundin, a Tolko employee for more than 15 years, had been working on a company boat shortly before 9:30 p.m., Monday, Jan. 30 when coworkers called 911 because the ship had gone down.
His body was discovered on the ship and later recovered.
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WorkSafe BC said this week that the investigation is ongoing and more information should be available next month.
Tolko management say is also awaiting results for the investigation and representatives say they have implemented some changes since that day.
“Jan 30 marked the one year anniversary of the passing of Ivor Lundin and our thoughts are with his family and friends during this difficult time. We marked the occasion by reconfirming our commitment to safety, as we do every day, and we spoke to many employees – particularly those who were deeply affected by Ivor’s passing,” said General Manager, Southern Interior Lumber, Pat Lauriente, in a statement.
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“As to the details of the changes, the incident remains under investigation so, we are unable to directly speak to the events of that evening. However, we have implemented key learnings from the incident and informed our employees about what we’ve done in an effort to ensure something like this never happens again.”
Lundin was remembered by his partner Brenda as “an amazing guy who was always willing to lend a hand to anybody who needed it.”
“He was a humble, strong person,” she told the Capital News. “He knew every aspect of the mill and all the boats and loved his work on the water.”
She said the 57-year-old volunteered for the city every year during the fireworks to take the barges out and he was very experienced on the water.
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