Shuswap Search and Rescue members' thoughts are with Stan Cappis, his family and everyone involved in the search for the Red Deer, Alberta man who went missing after he helped rescue two youth from the North Thompson River.
Kamloops RCMP said Cappis and a friend had been at the river north of Kamloops on Friday, July 12, when some youth also at the river stepped off a sandbar. Two of the youth started to get carried away and Cappis and his friend jumped in to rescue them.
“Stan’s friend and the youths were able to get to the shore; however, Stan was swept away. He was last seen rounding the bend of the river,” said Kamloops RCMP Staff Sgt. Janelle Shoihet in a media release.
Shuswap Search and Rescue (SSAR) was brought in Saturday afternoon to help look for Cappis. SSAR spokesperson Gordon Bose said a team of seven of their local rescue technicians was involved in the effort that lasted into the evening.
"We had a jet boat and a couple of inflatable kayaks, and the Kamloops Search and Rescue team also had a kayak with us and also a bunch of ground search members doing shoreline searches up and down the river," said Bose.
Bose said they searched 10.5 kilometres down the river from where Cappis was last seen, but were unable to locate him, explaining the murky swift-flowing river offered limited visibility.
With the hot weather, Bose said the banks of rivers and streams can be dangerous at this time of year.
"Right now the river is running moderately high so some of the banks are unstable, they're quite sandy in some spots, and just with the added weight of a person walking on the edge, they can just kind of cave in and then it's almost a straight shot down, six feet or so into the water and it's pretty difficult to get out sometimes," said Bose.
RCMP said Cappis is described as Caucasian, with an athletic build and dark hair. He was last seen wearing shorts and sunglasses.
Stuck side-by-side
Shuswap Search and Rescue volunteers were also out in the Owlhead recreation area late Wednesday and early Thursday, July 10 and 11, responding to two individuals whose side-by-side had become stuck.
"They left their side-by-side and walked a couple of kilometres to the Blue Lake cabin where they could get warmed up and dried off," said Bose, noting the pair had used the SOS function on an iPhone, assisting the responding search and rescue team with locating them. "We followed their tracks there and brought them back by side-by-side – got them unstuck and escorted them off the mountain back to Sicamous."
Though the pair were not prepared for the colder temperatures, Bose said they were in good shape and commended them for doing several things right, including knowing where the cabin was, going there and staying put until help arrived.
