The search for two men reported missing on Kinbasket Lake continued on Wednesday, with Revelstoke RCMP, Search & Rescue, BC Hydro, and the family of the missing boaters scanning the area.
Staff-Sgt. Kurt Grabinksy of the Revelstoke RCMP told the Times Review that both RCMP, SAR and BC Hydro had boats on the lake, and that an RCMP helicopter was also aiding with the search for the two contractors who were working at Mica Dam.
The two men, said to be about 60-years-old, are from Mission and Osoyoos. They work for Western Pacific Enterprises, a contractor working at Mica.
The men left the Mica boat ramp to go fishing in a 4-metre aluminum boat on Monday, July 7, at around 6:30 p.m. Concern was raised when their truck was seen parked at the boat ramp at nightfall. When they weren’t in their rooms at night, the RCMP was notified and a search was initiated.
“The information we have is the boat proceeded almost west from that boat launch and hasn’t been seen since,” said Grabinsky. “We have a rough direction but no specific location. It’s a big huge, reservoir.”
BC Hydro employees scanned the shore line that night and a SAR team traveled to the area by helicopter at first light the following morning. RCMP and SAR searched a 100-square-kilometre area that morning and continued to search throughout Tuesday and into Wednesday.
“We’ve considered the dive team but due to the depths, the dive team is not a candidate,” said Grabinsky. “And as well, because of the vastness and no specific location, its nearly impossible to dive endlessly.”
He said they were considering bringing in a specialized search team like the one used to search for the drowned teenagers on Slocan Lake in May.
“We’re looking at the possibility of using sidescan SONAR to aid in searching but because of the vastness and the fact the bottom is still tree stumped, we’re going to see all kinds of shadows and any deceased persons at the bottom of the lake would be hidden by the stumps,” said Grabinsky.
The Kinbasket Reservoir is more than 200 metres deep near the Mica Dam and is still not at full pool. It stretches from Mica, 150 kilometres north of Revelstoke, almost to Valemount in the north and also extends south towards Golden.
