Search and rescue crews hope a drop in water level on Monashee Creek near Cherryville will lead them to two missing men.
Crews were positive they discovered the body of Kelowna’s Scott Lawler, 20, on the weekend in a logjam on a creek. When crews moved a tree to help with the extraction of Lawler’s body, the power of the water caused a creek bank to give way, sending Lawler’s body into what crews believe was a 10-to-12-foot hole in the creek.
Huge boulders, some weighing an estimated ton, ended up falling into the same hole.
“We were back at the creek on Tuesday and did another re-con, nothing much has changed,” said Vernon Search and Rescue search manager Leigh Pearson. “A couple of guys are taking the RCMP dive team to the spot today (Thursday) to show them the area, but they are not going to go into the water. The dive team has already said it’s way too dangerous to go into the water.”
Lawler was hiking with friend Daniel Lovegrove, 21, of Peachland, on Aug. 13 one kilometre northwest of the Gold Panner Campground when both men fell down an embankment.
Lawler was swept into the creek. Lovegrove died at the scene from injuries suffered in his fall.
The area where rescue crews have to go to search for Lawler can’t be accessed by vehicles other than ATVs, and that only gets personnel close to the site. They must rappel about 200 feet down to the creek. The spot is in a canyon that makes it impossible to bring in equipment to try and remove the rocks.
Search crews will continue to monitor the creek’s water level.
“We hope it drops and that may make all the difference in the world in helping us retrieve the body,” said Pearson.
“It may make no difference whatsoever.”
Pearson classified the water as class three or four rapid, moving about 30 kilometres an hour.
Crews will continue to search weekly for a missing Vernon man who is believed to have fallen into the creek in exactly the same area as Lawler on the May long weekend.
The difference is when he went into the water, the creek was six feet higher than it is now.
“He could be anywhere, he could be miles away,” said Pearson. “We’ll have crews out every week or so doing a reconnaissance to see if anything has changed, and go from there.”
