The family of a man who went missing while kayaking on Kalamalka Lake last month has found the closure they were so desperately seeking.
Eli Buruca’s body was recovered from the lake on Wednesday morning, ending a weeks-long search led by family and aided by everyone from police to Gene and Sandy Ralston, a couple from Idaho who travelled north at the behest of the family with specialized sonar equipment.
It was the Ralstons’ efforts that on Tuesday allowed for Buruca to be located at a depth of 120 feet about a kilometre from the shore, Nidia Buruca Majano, Buruca’s sister, said on Wednesday.
“They provided the coordinates and a recovery of my brother was made (Wednesday) morning,” Majano said.
Upon learning he’d been found, the family took some time to process and today they started the journey to say goodbye.
“(Gene Ralston) asked if we wanted to (go) to the point where he was found. (He) brought out my whole family and we dispersed rose petals and lavender pieces at the location where he was found,” Majano said.
She said now they’re planning on ways to honour and remember Buruca “for the amazing and kind person that he was.”
A service will be held for Buruca in El Salvador where he will be laid to rest near his brother, who was buried two years ago today.
Before that, however, Majano wanted to make sure her appreciation for the Ralstons is on the record. Had it not been for them, who made the trip north out of the “goodness of their hearts,” Buruca may have never been found, she said.
The Ralstons were scientists until the late 1980s, when they began helping out on search-and-rescue missions.
They’re known for having an uncanny ability to locate bodies, and have assisted in searches in both in the U.S. and Canada.
“They sit there in that cabin all these long hours, from early morning to really late in the day in any condition, searching without knowing the person that they’re searching for,” Majano said. “They do it out of the goodness of their heart and they do it to help us find the closure that we need.”
Majano said Buruca is the 133rd person the Ralstons have found.
“That’s 133 families that the Ralstons done this for and we have been so lucky and blessed they have done this for us,” she said. “We are extremely grateful to (them).”
Buruca, 26, had recently moved to Vernon from Calgary and was paddling with a group of friends on Kalamalka Lake near Vernon on July 24 when an intense storm rolled in.
While the rest of his companions made it back to shore, he did not. The search carried on for days before officials confirmed that Buruca was presumed dead.
It’s believed that the Ralstons will take their skills to another Vernon area lake, Okanagan Lake, this week to resume the search for another man who is believed to have also drowned during that intense storm.
Shrimp boat captain Travis Van Hill was working on the night he is presumed to have drowned, but his body has yet to be recovered.