A Langley man was among a trio of men who are lucky to be alive after their raft capsized on the Fraser River near Hope on July 8.
Cpl. Tammy Hollingsworth of the Upper Fraser Valley Regional Detachment said that RCMP received a number of 911 calls at around 2 p.m. from people who saw a man floating down the Fraser River near the Fraser Bridge, hanging on to a piece of wood and yelling for help.
Hope RCMP, RCMP Air Services and Hope and District Search and Rescue were immediately dispatched to the river, where they found that three men had fallen into the river when their raft, made of barrels, capsized.
Witnesses saw a man screaming for help as he floated down the middle of the river. The first RCMP officer to arrive saw him in the water, but then lost sight of him. Police located him on the shore near the Haig Weigh Scales. He said he had been in the water for approximately 45 minutes. Two of his companions managed to swim to shore at separate locations, and were discovered a short time later.
Only two of the men were wearing life jackets.
One of the callers to 911 was Trudi Jarvis who was sitting in her vehicle when she heard the cries for help. She remarked that the response of police and SAR “was absolutely bloody amazing.”
Two men were taken by B.C. Ambulance to Fraser Canyon Hospital and were treated for hypothermia. The men, aged 29 to 34, were from Port Coquitlam and Langley.
The men should consider themselves lucky to be alive, Hollingsworth said.
“The river is still quite high and flowing very quickly,” she said, adding that taking a raft crafted from barrels on to the river “is very dangerous and not something the police would suggest attempting.”
She said that neither drugs nor alcohol were factors in the incident. No names have been released.
