The body of an international student has been recovered in a Kamloop, BC, River, just over a week after disappearing.
Kamloops RCMP confirmed the discovery of the body in a statement on Tuesday, saying that it was recovered near Mcarthur Island Park, a few kilometers northwest of the Overlander Park.
That was where the young man was playing volleyball on the night of July 6, and rescuers say he was caught in the current when he tried to recover the ball of the Thompson River.
RCMP said they would not launch the victim’s name to protect their privacy, and that his family had been informed of his recovery.
Sergeant Chris Kienzle, spokesman for Kamloops RCMP, said the man’s body was found on Tuesday morning by a search and rescue volunteer who was doing kayak the river.
“The family has been updated,” he told CBC News.
“We hope that our contact with them and the location of their deceased loved one, at least bring a closure to family and friends.”
Paula Davis, search manager of Kamloops Search and Rescue, previously told CBC News that after the man went to recover the ball in the river, began to fight.
“The friends jumped to try to help him, but they were also … fighting too,” Davis told presenter Shelley Joyce in CBC’s Daybreak Kamloop last week.
“Friends were able to get safe, but unfortunately, the young man could not.”
Despite the calls to the action after the alleged drowning of an international student last Sunday, the city of Kamloop says that he has no plans to add additional security equipment to the local beaches. CBC Jenifer Norwell explains why.
Kamloops RCMP said in a statement that they were called around 5:15 pm that day to help with a possible drowning.
Overlander Park is located in the neighborhood of the northern coast of the city, just at the confluence of the Thompson North and South Thompson rivers.
Davis had warned that the river is “very dangerous at this time of year” due to its currents.
The only designated swimming beach in the river in Kamloops is Riverside Park, on the other side of the river from Overlander Park.
A few days after the man disappeared, rescuers told CBC News that the nature of his mission had changed to a recovery mission, instead of a rescue mission.
The alleged drowning caused calls for more security in the river in the inner city of BC. The authorities urged caution and asked people to obey the signs to warn swimming is dangerous.
Search teams are still along the Thompson River in Kamloops in search of a man who was swept on Sunday night. An international Thompson Riversity student was playing volleyball with friends when the ball entered the water. As Jenifer Norwell reports, when he entered to recover it, he ran into problems. While two of his friends tried to help, the man in about 20 could not be taken out of the water.
