In too deepBy Jennifer Feinberg
The Progress
jfeinberg@theprogress.comMar 21 2006
Two women who tried unsuccessfully to cross a channel of the Fraser River in a pickup truck had to be rescued yesterday morning.
Chilliwack Search and Rescue personnel travelled up the Minto Channel from Island 22 to lend a hand in the operation. Firefighters and RCMP were already on-scene at the rescue location, just north of McSween Road.
The pair emerged cold and wet but otherwise unscathed.
"I'm assuming they thought it was possible to drive across the river but obviously the water was too deep for the truck," says CSAR member Doug Fraser. "The two ladies became stuck, with water coming almost up to the windshield.
"When we arrived they had climbed out of the truck and were sitting on the roof."
The SAR members ferried them safely back to shore in the SAR jet boat and later helped the tow truck operator.
"Fortunately at this time of year they were not in too much danger as the channel was shallow enough," Fraser says. "But at higher water levels, they would have been putting themselves at serious risk."
It was "a tricky job" for the SAR boat operator to navigate the shallow sections of the channel upriver to where the truck was stuck, he adds.
"There were no more than four inches of water in a couple of spots," Fraser adds.
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