The BC Coroners Service has released the name of a 22 year-old man who drowned in Chemainus Lake Nov. 25, when the canoe he and a friend were in capsized.
Brayden Edward Gale’s body was recovered five hours after the accident, which occurred about 10:30 a.m.
Neither man was wearing a life jacket.
Gale’s companion was able to swim to the dock at Chemainus Lake, but Gale didn’t make it in the frigid waters, and his body was recovered by an RCMP dive team after an extensive search.
A witness of the drowning, whose husband, Todd Lefebure, attempted to swim out to Gale and offer assistance, said in a CHEK TV report that the boat was about 20 metres out when the two went into the water.
Said Susan Harrison: “…they were separate from the boat, one swimming one way and the other we couldn’t tell exactly what he was doing. You could see that the boat was submerged but not sunk.”
Harrison suggested that a floatation ring attached to a rope installed on the Chemainus Lake dock would have allowed witnesses to offer some assistance.
