The number of serious incidents on Shuswap and Mara lakes have been relatively few this summer, and Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue Shuswap Station leader Rob Sutherland hopes it stays that way.
As of Aug. 3, Shuswap Station volunteers responded to 11 incidents on the lakes:
• June 17, a 39-year-old man fell on a beach and lacerated his leg, requiring transport to hospital.
• June 19, a 46-year old person involved in an ATV accident east of the Wilson Creek log dump broke their leg and ankle. They were recovered by Road Rescue and BC Ambulance Services personnel at the beach and transported to hospital.
• June 24, a 24-year old jumped over a log, possibly broke his leg, and required transport to hospital.
• July 1, a 28-year-old man had his finger pinched off as the rope tightened while he was being towed by a boat on a small raft. The man was transported to hospital.
• July 3, a 34-year-old man was found deceased in a hot tub in the morning when his peers got out of bed. The body was transported to the coroner.
• July 12, a 92-year-old woman slipped and fell, possibly breaking her hip, requiring transport to hospital.
• July 14, a 23-year old overdosed on drugs and was transported to hospital.
• July 16, a 20-year-old overdosed on drugs. The individual was checked by BCAS personnel and refused to go to hospital after recommendations by BCAS and doctors to do so.
• July 19, a 19-year old had a seizure and was transported to hospital.
• July 30, a 29-year-old man dove off a houseboat and hit his head on the bottom of the lake. The man was transported to the Seymour Arm wharf and then by air ambulance to hospital.
• July 20, a 20-year old suffering abdominal pains was transported to hospital.
Sutherland says all this amounts to a slow boating season for RCMSAR this year. He’s hoping the organization’s effort to raise boating safety awareness has contributed to this.
“We are hoping that the many presentations that (Shuswap Lifeboat Society president) Bruce Weicker and I have made, as well as displays at community events and handing out information pamphlets on the lake, has had an effect on increasing boating safety,” said Sutherland.