Frantic calls to 911 about a truck that had possibly plunged into Duck Lake (Ellison Lake) off Highway 97 prompted Kelowna emergency crews to assemble rescuers just after 8 p.m. on Thursday.
When police, paramedics and firefighters arrived at the water’s edge north of the Kelowna airport, they saw vehicle tracks leave the road and head onto the ice but could not see the vehicle.
Further calls to emergency dispatch reported a vehicle on the north end of Duck Lake looking for help driving off the ice.
“All I saw was the truck on the lake,” Turtle Lodge Resort resident Tracy Aviss told Global News. “I saw the fire trucks come in and the ambulance and the police and was wondering what was going on.”
Aviss said the truck had left Highway 97 in a spin, sliding down the embankment to the ice facing backwards.
“It’s quite a far drop from there,” she said. “He was fishtailing. Going down backwards basically saved him.”
The man was finally able to get off the ice with the help of a bobcat that created a path in the snow.
The dazed, middle-aged man behind the wheel of a truck declined comment about his ordeal and was allowed to continue his travels after speaking with RCMP at the scene.
“He was pretty upset not being able to get off the lake,” Aviss said after speaking with the driver. “He said he’s glad he’s alive.”
Sub-zero temperatures have frozen smaller lakes in the Okanagan, but vehicles are not permitted to drive on the ice due to unknown risks associated with the activity.
Snowfall continues to make roads slick in the region.