KILLINEY BEACH – The frantic search for two sisters in Okanagan Lake Saturday evening had a happy ending, but that might not have been the case if the two girls hadn’t been wearing life jackets. Their family is now sharing their story as a reminder that life jackets save lives.
The ordeal began when 13-year-old Abby Asimos and her 11-year-old sister Ashten went out on Okanagan Lake in a inflatable kayak Saturday evening. The family says it was a last minute decision to get the girls to put on life jackets before they set out. Once on the water, the two girls drifted a substantial distance from shore and somehow lost their paddles. The family estimates they were around 400 meters from shore.
Ashten decided to jump in the water, hoping to grab onto the inflatable kayak and pull it, with her sister still on board. However, the kayak was unstable and Abby also fell in. The situation only got worse when the kayak started to drift away.
Meanwhile, their family onshore was getting worried. They could no longer see the girls with binoculars and asked their neighbour Wayne Carson for help. The former fire chief and regional district director jumped in a Sea-Doo and started searching for the girls. To his dismay, he soon came across their empty inflatable kayak.
“My heart sank,” says Carson.
He didn’t know if the girls were wearing life jackets and feared the worst when he saw the empty vessel. 911 was called and the family also borrowed a boat to start their own search.
The sun was quickly setting and Carson was worried that searchers only had a few minutes of daylight left to find the girls. He started doing a grid search and luckily, about 10 minutes later, spotted the girls in the water shivering. One of the sisters was so tired, she couldn’t even wave her arms for help.
They were brought back to shore where paramedics checked them over for hypothermia. Both girls were found to be okay.
The family says what could have been a tragedy ended well only because the girls were wearing life jackets.
– with files from K
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