Man missing after trying to retrieve volleyball from Kamloops river

CBC News

· Posted: Jul 07, 2025 3:01 PM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours ago

Rescue crews are continuing their search along the Thompson River successful Kamloops, B.C., wherever constabulary accidental a assemblage pupil went missing Sunday night. 

The young man was playing volleyball astatine Overlander Park when the shot went into the water, says Paula Davis, hunt manager with Kamloops Search and Rescue. 

Davis says the antheral went to retrieve the shot successful the river, wherever helium began to struggle. 

"Friends jumped successful to effort to assistance him but they were besides ... struggling arsenic well," Davis told big Shelley Joyce connected CBC's Daybreak Kamloops.

"The friends were capable to get themselves to safety, but unluckily the young antheral wasn't capable to."

Kamloops RCMP said successful a connection that they were call around 5:15 p.m. to assistance with a imaginable drowning.

Cpl. Dana Napier said that according to the study they received, the antheral entered the stream to retrieve the shot "and got caught successful the undercurrent."

"Two much men from the radical who entered the h2o to assistance were besides caught successful the current. Two of the archetypal 3 were saved portion the 3rd appeared to beryllium pulled distant and went nether the water," she said.

Mounties said the missing antheral has been identified as an planetary pupil who was attending Thompson Rivers University. 

They said investigators are moving with the RCMP's Foreign Domestic Liaison Unit to interaction his family, and that nary further details astir him volition beryllium released astatine this time. 

Overlander Park is located successful the city's North Shore neighbourhood, close by the confluence of the North and South Thompson rivers. 

Davis says Kamloops Fire and Rescue did a expanse of the country from the parkland to the airdrome Sunday night and did not find the man. Kamloops SAR continued the hunt by kayak and deployed a drone, but were besides unsuccessful. 

The hunt continued Monday morning, with Vernon Search and Rescue expected to assist, arsenic good arsenic RCMP Air Services.

Davis says they'll hunt the country wherever the antheral was past seen and proceed downstream, but says mediocre visibility successful the stream could hamper their efforts.

Davis besides warns the stream is "very unsafe this clip of year" owed to its currents. The lone designated stream swimming formation successful Kamloops is Riverside Park, crossed the stream from Overlander Park. 

"You don't privation to underestimate it, that's for sure," she says. "It's truly champion to enactment retired of the h2o unless you're successful an country that has beauteous overmuch nary current." 

Davis is asking the nationalist to enactment retired of the hunt areas portion rescue crews enactment Monday.

"I deliberation the biggest happening is conscionable to springiness america abstraction and fto america bash our occupation and hopefully we'll beryllium palmy today."