A man died snorkelling near Peachland Saturday, just the latest in a deadly summer of water-related deaths and drownings being called one of the worst on record.
The BC Coroners Service has confirmed David Bernard Mulhall, aged 70, of Peachland was the individual pulled from the water late Saturday afternoon at the foot of Beach Avenue in Peachland.
“He was seen to enter the water, but did not come out,” said Larry Marzinzik, regional coroner, in a release issued late Monday. “He was found shortly afterwards on the lake bottom and was transported immediately to Kelowna General Hospital.”
Mulhall lived through the initial transport, but died late Saturday at KGH; whether his death was a drowning, or the result of a concurrent problem like a heart attack, has not been released. He was an avid diving and snorkelling enthusiast and his death is being investigated by RCMP and the coroner.
Mulhall was one of five people to die in water-related activities in B.C. over this past weekend. As of Saturday, there had been 43 drowning deaths compared with 25 by the same time last year according to information given to CBC by the Lifesaving Society, B.C. and Yukon, over the weekend.
Twitter: @jaswrites
