4 Escape from Boat Sinking

By 250 News

Yellow arrow on  centre  Foothills  Bridge piling  points to scrape mark  where boat hit 

Murray Scott says it took just a few seconds for his 20 ft. Jet boat to sink in the Nechako River after it hit a bridge piling at the Foothills bridge Sunday .

Scott says "We lost power to our motor, I can’t say exactly what caused it , and we driffted into the bridge piling." 

There were four adults on the boat, two men and two women, all were  wearing life jackets  at the time,  and were able to swim to shore .  The four were taken to hospital to be checked.  All  are o.k.

(at right,  close up of the only evidence of the boat hitting the bridge, a small scrape on the piling )

Scott says " It went down in a real hurry, I’m glad we all had life jackets on because you sure wouldn’t have had time to get them on."   

Luckily, two local men, Stan Todoruk and Russ Stewart were driving over the Foothills bridge.  “We looked down and saw the capsized boat and the people bobbing in the water,” Todoruk recounted. 

Realizing the danger the boaters were in, both men, without hesitation, jumped out of their vehicle and raced down the river bank with the aim of helping rescue the four struggling swimmers.  “We had to run down the riverbank for about 2 km before we caught up to them,” said Stewart.  “We were pretty winded and our boots were full of rocks and sand .”  But the two men were able to assist the drenched and shivering boaters out of the water.  Stewart said that another positive factor in the mishap was that the boaters “kept their wits about them and were able to strike out for shore when the boat went down.”

When the incident took place, another passing motorist called 911, and within minutes a police officer and fire & rescue personnel had responded. 

Captain Russ Wilkins from the Prince George Fire Department was one of those on the scene, and afterwards gave some words of caution.  “This time of year, there are some big currents out there”, he said.  “The river is running high, it’s very cold and there is a lot of debris.”  He went on to say that “you need to be experienced to run boats on the river, especially this time of year.” 

Wilkins also pointed out that the currents that run by the bridge pylons are very powerful and can quickly suck a person or even a boat down into the icy depths.   Hypothermia and drowning can be real possibilities.   One of the Prince George Fire and Rescue team added, “Have fun this Spring, but be extra careful when you are out on or around the river.”

The Nechako River is high as  there is  an unusually high runoff from a higher than normal snowpack, plus the recent release  of  up to 450 cubic metres per second of water from  the Skins Lake  Spillway.

This was not the only boating incident over the weekend.  Details are  still sketchy,  but in another unrelated incident, another jet boat received damage, when it struck a log on the Salmon River on Saturday. It is not known if anyone sustained injuries in that mishap.

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