The Coast Guard pulled a man’s body from the Burrard Inlet off Burnaby’s Barnet Marine Park Thursday afternoon.
Witnesses at the scene said the man had been crab fishing from a small plastic kayak when the boat got away from him.
Photo by Cornelia Naylor
A woman who jumped into the water to save the man said the kayak had been right beside him when she first spotted him, but the current and wind soon moved it out of his reach.
“We heard him calling for help. I tried to swim out to him,” she told the NOW. “I left my pants on, and it was so hard to swim, and I had to turn back, and then he went under. It’s terrible.”
The North Delta woman, who did not want her name published, said a man had stripped down and swum all the way out to two buoys where the man had gone under but couldn’t locate him and turned back.
Photo by Cornelia Naylor
Burnaby RCMP got the call at 2:15 p.m. and responded, along with three Coast Guard vessels, ambulance, the Burnaby Fire Department and the Vancouver Police Marine Unit, according to an RCMP press release.
The man was located by a Coast Guard diver at 3:20 p.m. and pulled from the water.
Police planned to remain on scene throughout the evening as the investigation continued, according to the release.
Photo by Cornelia Naylor
“It is early in the investigation but at this time the incident appears to have been a tragic accident and foul play is not suspected,” stated the release.
