VANCOUVER – A woman wearing nothing more than a life-jacket and the warm clothing she planned to go fishing with survived for six hours in the frigid waters of the Georgia Strait off British Columbia’s coast, RCMP said Monday.
Const. Tim Kenning said when the woman made it to shore, on a remote and forested area of Texada Island, she also managed to find help for her partner who was still in the water.
“It would appear she found her way to shore, found a cabin that was actually inhabited by somebody, and that person rendered aid and (that) is what launched the search for her spouse,” he said in telephone interview from Powell River, on B.C.’s Sunshine Coast.
Police say the woman and her partner set out Saturday for a day of fishing, but the weather turned rough and they needed to take shelter in a remote bay near Texada, the largest of the Gulf Islands.
When they set out again in their five-metre fishing boat, it started taking on water and the boat capsized sending the man and woman into the water.
Despite all her efforts, and a search by land, sea and air, the man didn’t survive.
The BC Coroner said Monday the body of Jordan Beaudoin, 38, was found on the waterline Sunday night on the east side of Texada Island.
Kenning said the boat had not been recovered, so it was unclear what sent them into the water. He said the man’s partner couldn’t tell them much.
“You can only imagine her — exhausted, fatigued, hypothermic, emotional — state that any person would be in after that sort of ordeal.”
The woman was taken to hospital with severe hypothermia, but is expected to fully recover.
Kenning could give few details about the woman’s ordeal.
Police say there’s no indication of foul play. The BC Coroners Service has taken over the death investigation.
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