A 25-year-old man from Nanaimo is bruised but safe following a rescue in the Puntledge River near Stotan Falls Wednesday afternoon.
Comox Valley Ground Search and Rescue, Comox Valley RCMP and the Courtenay Fire Department attended the scene in which the man was stranded on a logjam downstream just below the falls, explained Scott Larsen of CVGSAR.
“They had come in from Nanaimo with some friends; they had heard about this swimming area and wanted to check it out.”
Larsen said the man was surprised by the force of the water; while it’s not that deep, it was a combination of water pressure, current and a drop into a pool below him which caught him off guard.
He estimated the man was swept down the river 25 feet from his original location.
This is the second river rescue in the past week, after first responders had to save a family – including a small child – that found themselves caught in the fast-flowing river.
