A local fire crew and members of the public took part in the dramatic rescue of a 75-year-old woman from Cowichan Lake on April 3.
At about 4:30 p.m. on Friday, the Lake Cowichan RCMP received a report of an overturned pleasure craft near the community of Caycuse, at the north end of Cowichan Lake, after numerous people reported seeing a woman in a vessel on her own several hours prior to seeing the vessel overturned.
Members from the Caycuse community and fire department were able to get out on the water in their personal water crafts and pulled the woman from the water shortly after police arrived.
She was unresponsive and believed to have been in the water for almost an hour.
The woman was immediately taken to hospital by air ambulance, and is expected to recover.
A press release from the RCMP said members of the Caycuse community and fire department were instrumental in the rescue and care of the woman until paramedics arrived.
“Without the quick action of the Caycuse community and their fire department, this could have had a very different, and possible tragic outcome,” said Sgt. Lita Watson, the detachment commander of the Lake Cowichan RCMP.
Multiple resources around the lake were called upon for assistance, including fire departments from Youbou, and Lake Cowichan, Lake Cowichan RCMP, South Island Traffic Services, and BC ambulance service.
