One man is missing and presumed drowned after two boats collided on Shuswap Lake Sunday night.
Salmon Arm RCMP have identified the missing man as 33-year-old Ryan Hartmann.
Hartmann was among those thrown into the water after two speed boats travelling together collided between 8 and 8:20 p.m. on Sept. 1.
Fred Banham, leader of Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue (RCMSAR) Station 106, said the station received a call from the B.C. Ambulance Service requesting assistance with people who were thrown into the lake in the vicinity of Paradise Point between Canoe and Sicamous.
He was told some may have been injured.
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Banham said when RCMSAR crews arrived they determined that one of the boats was seriously damaged and the people on board had been thrown into the lake. Banham said the undamaged boat picked up three people. One of them, a 25-year-old woman, had suffered injuries to her head and back.
Paramedics rode to the scene of the accident aboard the Tolonen, the larger of the Shuswap RCMSAR station’s two vessels. The injured woman was taken to an ambulance waiting in Canoe.
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The RCMSAR station’s other boat, Rescue 1, searched for the missing man along with an RCMP boat. After returning from taking the injured woman to the ambulance, the Tolonen also joined the search.
Banham said the RCMSAR and RCMP boats kept searching until 2 a.m. but were unsuccessful in locating the missing man.
“Police continue to investigate the incident and local Search and Rescue as well as RCMP and Search and Rescue air assets are being utilized this afternoon to again to search the area of the lake where this incident occurred. The area of the lake where this incident occurred is 250 to 350 feet in depth,” stated Salmon Arm RCMP Staff Sgt. Scott West on Sept. 2.
Both boats involved are in the possession of police as the investigation into the tragedy continues.
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