Emergency crews were called to Sudbury Beach on Skaha Lake in Penticton Saturday after reports of a drowning.
The call was made around 3 p.m. by Darcey Godfrey, who owns a stand up paddle board rental shop on the beach.
“Today, our policy [at the shop] was that everyone wears a life jacket at all times, everyone stay within the buoys, because we knew there was a north wind,” Godfrey said.
According to a witness, a man went into the water to make sure his wife and daughter were doing alright on their flotation device, when he discovered a body in the water.
Members of the Penticton Fire Department (PFD) arrived in rescue boats shortly after and said they were able to pull the body out of the water.
PFD Captain Graham Gowe said the man’s body was about 60 feet from the shore, between seven and 10 feet down.
Gowe said swimmers helped identify where the body of the man, who is in his mid-50’s, was to help rescuers out.
They performed CPR until they could reach the shore where B.C. Ambulance Service paramedics were waiting and declared the man to be dead.
Gowe said the man had been reported missing about an hour and a half before the 911 call came in.
Unfortunately, this isn’t the first drowning that’s happened in that area this summer.
It was less than a month ago, off the same beach, that the body of a 33-year-old tourist was also pulled from the water.
READ MORE: Paddle boarder drowns on Skaha Lake
The owner of the stand up paddle board rental shop said she saw him go under. She said it’s especially sad because she is trying her best to spread the message of water safety.
“I’ve sort of become the person on the beach that when I see people go out, I just say ‘hi, excuse me, do you want to borrow a leash, do you want to borrow a life jacket?’ and to my amazement, people say no,” Godfrey said in an interview with Global Okanagan last weekend, during drowning prevention week.
Last Saturday, Godfrey helped search and rescue groups put on a public water safety awareness day on the same beach in light of the drowning death there a few weeks before.
WATCH BELOW: Water safety awareness event held in Penticton after drowning death
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