The families of two Langley teens who drowned in Nicola Lake last month are starting a society to fundraise for a side scan sonar system like the one that helped recover their loved ones’ bodies.
The to-be-formalized non-profit society will send a group of people trained on a special, deep-water sonar system to recover bodies of drowning victims once it’s established. The society was inspired by the work of Gene and Sandy Ralston, the Idaho couple who recovered Austin Kingsborough, 17, and Brendan Wilson, 18, from Nicola Lake.
The Ralstons volunteer their time and special equipment to help recover drowning victims.
“This experience has highlighted a huge gap in emergency services in Canada,” said Scott Lebus, spokesperson for the Wilsons and Kingsboroughs, on the reason for founding a society. “The Ralstons are getting on and they’ve been doing this a long time, and they need other people to step up and help take the torch.”
Lebus said private companies charge as much as $30,000 a day for the same type of work.
“Any parent would say they’d give anything, and that’s our motivation right there,” he said.
Kingsborough and Wilson were vacationing at Wilson’s family’s cabin on April 20 when they took a canoe on Nicola Lake. The canoe was discovered capsized and submerged on the shoreline about one kilometre away from the cabin the next day, while the paddles were found on the other side of the lake.
RCMP divers and a sonar team began their search on April 21, but called it off on April 26. The families of the teens called the Ralstons the same day, who recovered the bodies shortly after beginning their search on May 6.
“The RCMP worked really hard, they did their best, and they were very dedicated, but they’re limited by the equipment they have,” Lebus said. “It’s a small unit that’s only good for shallower depths, whereas what we’re looking at is capable of searching Lake Okanagan.”
Lebus said the RCMP’s equipment is ideal for depths up to 50 feet, while the side sonar system can locate victims as deep as 900 feet in the water.
Lebus estimated it will take about $300,000 to finance the equipment and training for the society. Until then, Lebus and the victims’ families are working on establishing the non-profit society and its bank accounts.
A Saturday night fundraiser at the Grand Pub and Grill brought in $3,500 for the society, which owner Dana Egan said “shows the incredible support our community shows to others.”
It’s a sentiment Lebus echoed.
“While the boys are from the Lower Mainland, we were really embraced by Merritt,” he said, adding that some members of the Upper Nicola Indian Band who helped in the search efforts attended a memorial service for the teens on Monday in Abbotsford.
The Ralstons have recovered 86 bodies since they began searching for drowning victims in 1999. Lebus said he anticipates working closely with the Ralstons for training, but the new organization will be independent once it’s up and running.
While the tentatively-named For the Boys Underwater Search and Recovery Society is a legacy of the Nicola Lake incident, Lebus said its name may change to reflect who becomes a part of it.
“That was what we came up with initially, but we’ve had a lot of interest from other families that have been helped by the Ralstons,” Lebus said. “I can think of 15 or 20 people off the top of my head who are interested in being part of it from just these few families alone. We’re looking for people who are emotionally invested, who have been touched by this sort of thing, who know what we’re doing and who feel it. If we start this thing, we don’t want to have to say no. If somebody calls, we want to be able to say we’re coming.”
