A 56-year-old man is in hospital with hypothermia after a night out on Slocan Lake.
RCMP say Wednesday evening, the man of no fixed address and a friend travelled from Silverton to New Denver on a 14-foot aluminum boat with an electric trolling motor. Shortly afterward, he continued out his own, and was last seen around 7 p.m.
He was reported missing at 7 a.m. this morning.
“After receiving the report, police immediately activated New Denver and Nakusp Search and Rescue as well as calling out the RCMP helicopter,” says Staff Sgt. Dan Seibel.
The missing boat was spotted adrift near Rosebery around 9:30 this morning, and appeared to be empty. However, when search and rescue recovered it, they found the man was alive, laying face down in several inches of water — it rained overnight.
“The fellow’s very lucky,” Seibel says. “He could have potentially drowned in the shallow water in the boat.”
It’s not clear which hospital he’s in.
Alcohol was a factor in the incident, Seibel says, stressing that cruising and boozing is illegal.