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Kamloops RCMP say a 24-year-old woman is presumed drowned after a vehicle entered the North Thompson River Sunday evening.
Mounties say a 21-year-old passenger was rescued by three bystanders who jumped into the fast-moving water to help.
According to the police, the vehicle left the road near Schubert Drive and Birch Avenue just before 6:30 p.m. PT before entering the river near the confluence of the North and South Thompson rivers.
“The water was running high and was fast-moving,” RCMP said in a statement Monday.
Kamloops Search and Rescue manager Jeremy Markel said the vehicle floated for a period of time before becoming submerged.
“Several bystanders got involved and jumped into the water,” Markel added.
He said they managed to break the windows and rescue one occupant, but the adult driver was unable to get out.
RCMP say witnesses later lost sight of the driver as she was carried farther downriver.
The passenger and one of the bystanders who helped with the rescue were taken to Royal Inland Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, according to police.
Kamloops firefighters also responded and praised the “courageous bystanders” who entered the water to help those involved.
“An act of incredible bravery that speaks to the compassion and selflessness within our community,” it wrote.
Search crews resumed operations Monday morning after darkness limited efforts overnight, said Markel.
He said searchers used drones, shoreline teams and swiftwater rescuers Sunday night before conditions became too dark to continue safely.
The SAR manager said crews also used a technique known as “live bait,” where a rescuer floats with the river current to help crews understand where the vehicle may have drifted.
“That helps us with our planning and stuff so we can kind of guess where we should be searching,” Markel said.
He said murky water conditions following recent rain have made visibility especially difficult.
RCMP say the crash appears to have been a tragic accident and say they are continuing to investigate the cause.
Frank Pryce, the swiftwater and ice rescue discipline lead for Kamloops SAR, told CBC News on Monday evening that the North Thompson River was in the middle of freshet — when snowmelt from the mountains leads to swollen rivers.
“Visibility is maybe 20 centimetres. And I think … there’s places there where it’s probably six, eight metres deep,” Pryce said.
RCMP and rescuers would co-ordinate to figure out the next steps in the mission to find the missing woman, he said, but it would depend on whether the vehicle sank to the bottom of the river or floated downriver.
The rescuer said that while Monday’s situation appears to be a tragic accident, people should stay away from rivers at this time of year, and wear life jackets if they’re anywhere close.
