Boats search the Fraser River for missing Abbotsford fisherman

The boats headed out on the Fraser River early Wednesday (May 12) to search for any sign of the missing Abbotsford fisherman.

Damian Dutrisac had been fishing in a small boat with buddy Andrew Newton last Friday (May 7) on the Fraser near the Vedder River when the anchor got snagged. The boat flipped and catapulted the pair into the fast-moving water.

“No one has seen Damian since,” according to the GoFundMe info.

The ‘Please Help Bring Damian Dutrisac Home‘ fundraiser was launched on May 10, and the decision to search on Wednesday, May 12 was made by volunteers, friends and family of the missing man.

Search parties launched from Barrowtown, as well as from Fort Langley, said Steve Simpson, who helped co-ordinate the ‘Bring Damian Home’ effort.

Anyone with “a boat, time, a drone or other resources” had been asked to help with the search this week since it’s possible he became trapped in an inaccessible location.

One of the two fisherman, Andrew Newton who had been wearing waders, but no life jacket, managed to swim to shore, and pulled himself out at the edge of the Bert Brink Wildlife Management Area, on the Fraser side. A passing boater rescued him on the Vedder side.

Dutrisac and his girlfriend, Karyssa Mclean, had been planning to get married this fall, according to the GoFundMe page.

Extensive and thorough searches took place in the hours after it was called in, by ground, water and air, all to no avail, said Chilliwack RCMP, with efforts by Chilliwack Search and Rescue, Abbotsford Police and more. The river has been running high in the midst of 2021 Fraser River Freshet, which is why the official search was called off for safety reasons on May 7.

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Chilliwack Progress