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Ok guys. I went tubing again toaday from Osbourne road down to the crossing and what I saw horrified me. As we were coming up on the corner where I KNEW the young girl died on wedenseday, I watched a group of tubers (ON inflatable rafts) go right through the same spot. I lost sight of one of the rafts and on closer inspection a guy on his raft was scrambling to get his friend out of the water. All I could see was his head, and learnt quickly that his legs were trapped below the surface. He was quite big and able to hold himself up until 2 friends got over there, and then another 6 went over to help after that. I quickly made the 911 call (I always carry my cell phone in a water proof case). I took 20 mins from the time I called for search and rescue to get out there, and many times I though the guy was going to die. There was one point where he went under for a good 30 seconds before his next breath. He did live, but when search and rescue got him out (with the help of his 8 friends who had a rope) he was so cold and tired that he couldn't move anything excepct his head. He was taken out in a strecher and had hypothermia.
To give you all an idea of how powerful the river is in this one spot, It took 8 PEOPLE to hold just his head above the water till search and rescue got there. Not only were the people holding him but he also had 1 rope tied around him and an inflatable raft behind him trying to keep him up. I am going again tomorrow and I will take pictures of this area for those of you who are going out. Please be very careful, this young man almost died today. Once again I will say that you CAN see this jam from a good 300 feet away, and for 20 feet before the jam the water is shallow enough (knee deep) for you to stand up. Hopefully search and rescue or the police put a sign up to warn people of the danger here. All of the people in this group were from Vanouver/Burnaby/Richmond and someone told them the river was a safe and fun ride. They knew nothing of the dangers ahead. Hopefully people learn from this.....
To give you all an idea of how powerful the river is in this one spot, It took 8 PEOPLE to hold just his head above the water till search and rescue got there. Not only were the people holding him but he also had 1 rope tied around him and an inflatable raft behind him trying to keep him up. I am going again tomorrow and I will take pictures of this area for those of you who are going out. Please be very careful, this young man almost died today. Once again I will say that you CAN see this jam from a good 300 feet away, and for 20 feet before the jam the water is shallow enough (knee deep) for you to stand up. Hopefully search and rescue or the police put a sign up to warn people of the danger here. All of the people in this group were from Vanouver/Burnaby/Richmond and someone told them the river was a safe and fun ride. They knew nothing of the dangers ahead. Hopefully people learn from this.....