A woman found unresponsive in the water in Qualicum Bay was airlifted to hospital Thursday morning, Jan. 25, according to first responders.
The woman’s condition was unknown at the time the police issued a news release Thursday afternoon.
RCMP were called shortly after 8:30 a.m. Jan. 25 with a report of someone “screaming in the water” approximately 30 to 45 metres from shore near Bowser, the release stated.
Darren Morley, coast guard officer with the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Victoria, said there were several 911 calls “of a woman flailing and thrashing about in the water about 100 feet (offshore).” Morley said the woman was found in the water in the Qualicum Bay area, just south of Bowser.
Morley said the coast guard brought a boat out of French Creek to help the woman, and the 442 Transport and Rescue Squadron out of CFB Comox brought a Hercules aircraft and a helicopter to the area.
“The coast guard boat was able to take the person out of the water and took her ashore to BC Ambulance and they headed to Nanaimo (Regional General Hospital),” Morley said.
The RCMP release stated that emergency services personnel arrived on scene to find a person motionless in the water offshore. The unresponsive female victim was pulled from the water by the coast guard and transferred to BC Ambulance paramedics, who performed emergency treatment on site. The victim was then airlifted from the scene.
At this point, Morley said neither witnesses nor first responders know how or why the woman ended up in the water.
Police said in the release an investigation into the incident is ongoing. The woman’s identity is known but is not being released publicly, and efforts are underway to notify her next of kin.
— NEWS staff and RCMP news release
