An RCMP dive team discovered more than they expected to when they went wading into the Fraser River in search of a stolen vehicle earlier this month.
Swimming through the waters next to the Port Mann Bridge in Coquitlam on April 6, the divers found not only the vehicle they were after, but two others and a school bus, too.
Corp. Alexa Hodgins said the three additional vehicles appear to have been sunken in the river for some time, and that at least one of them was also stolen.
The dive team was initially called in to search the area off of Maquabeak Park just after midnight on April 6, when a running vehicle was reported driving into the river. Because it was the middle of the night, divers were only able to determine then that no one was inside the car.
They returned later in the day, once it was light out, to do a more thorough search. That’s when they discovered just how many other vehicles were laying hidden under the water.
The team pulled the car they were after, a stolen 2004 Mazda, out of the water, but left the two other vehicles and the school bus for the time being. Hodgins said a Canadian Coast Guard dive team will be assessing those vehicles, one of which – a black 2000 Honda Civic – was reported stolen in 2010.
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