Two Red Deer fishermen whose jet boat quit and capsized on Thursday spent about 30 hours waiting for help on the banks of the Taku River in northern British Columbia.
“A couple of lucky boys,” said Jamie Tait, a helicopter pilot from Atlin, B.C., who found the pair after their boat was spotted by Yukon bush pilot Jim Brooks.
The fishermen, who did not want to be identified, were meeting up with their group of sport fishermen who have regularly fished in the area for years.
Tait said they told him their boat, flipped on the remote river almost instantly after the motor quit in a spot where the river flowed into a rock and rolled back on itself.
The men, who Tait estimated to be in their mid-50s, were forced to swim to shore. They were separated in the water and reached the shore about 1.5 km apart.
“Neither one knew the other was alive,” said the helicopter pilot with Ascent Helicopters.
One went into the water wearing chest waders.
Tait said the fisherman wasn’t sure he was going to make it.
“The ice chest went by and he was able to grab onto that and use it for flotation.”
Each spent the night in the rain, stranded in a windy area.
After many years flying fixed-wings, it was the first time Tait has been involved in a helicopter rescue.
While manoeuvring his helicopter down the river, he found a life-jacket stuck on a branch along in the trees.
“When I found the life-jacket, one of the guys came out of the bush. There he was.”
The fisherman managed to snag the propane stove from the boat after it ended up in the river.
His boat mate waited for help by a rocky cliff. His help message in the sand was mostly obscured by trees, Tait said.
“You have to make a big ‘Help’ sign. We’re talking 100-foot trees. It’s all very coastal.”
Originally, the search was going to start Saturday morning, but on Friday Tait was hired by a drill company to fly within eight km of where the boat was spotted. So he decided to check out the area where the boat was found.
On Tuesday, Tait flew the fishermen back out to their boat to see if they could get it down the river and back home.
“I think they’ll fly in next year.”
szielinski@www.reddeeradvocate.com