An alert angler and kayakers doing the right thing resulted in five people being rescued from the Elk River this afternoon.

On July 11, at approximately 12:45 p.m., Elk Valley RCMP was contacted by a visiting fly-fisherman who was on the Elk River near Fernie. He advised that he had retrieved three kayaks and two paddles that had drifted near him. However, he initially did not see anyone in the area.

Moments later RCMP received a subsequent call from this same fisherman who advised that he had walked approximately one km upstream and located five people (two adults and three children) stranded on a gravel bar on the Elk River.

Elk Valley RCMP immediately contacted the Provincial Emergency Program and activated Fernie Search and Rescue, with members responding within the hour and conducting a very successful helicopter long-line rescue of all five kayakers.

Further investigation by police determined that one of the kayakers had overturned their kayak in the strong current, causing the remainder of the group to come to their aid and resulted with all five ending up in the water.

“Fortunately, all five kayakers were wearing life-jackets which definitely contributed to the positive outcome of this incident. Fernie Search and Rescue commented that in this instance the kayakers did the right thing by remaining on the gravel bar and waiting for help, as opposed to attempting to cross the swift moving water,” reported Sgt. Trevor Tribes, Operations NCO of Elk Valley Regional RCMP.

Lead image: An example of a long-line rescue. Fernie Search and Rescue photo

e-KNOW

Article Share