NAKUSP, B.C. — The body of a 10-year-old British Columbia boy has been found after the vehicle he was in crashed and sank into a lake.
Police confirm the boy’s body was found Thursday when members of the RCMP underwater recovery team went into Arrow Lake in southeastern B.C.
The boy had been missing since Wednesday when the vehicle he was in veered off Highway 23 in snowy and icy conditions.
The 37-year-old driver and an 11-year-old girl were able to get out before the car sank and were treated for minor injuries.
Sgt. Monty Taylor with the Kootenay Boundary Regional District RCMP says the cause of the crash is under investigation and the coroner is also investigating.
The name of the boy will not be released.
“This is a tragic end to a family’s holiday season, our thoughts and prayers are with the family and their extended network of family and friends,” Taylor says in a news release.
The crash was one of many on southern B.C. highways since Wednesday when a series of storms brought snowfall, freezing rain and extreme cold to the southern Interior and some northern regions.
Travel advisories were posted Friday for the entire Coquihalla Highway and heavy snow was also forecast for Highway 97C between Merritt and Kelowna, with Environment Canada calling for as much as 25 centimetres in mountain passes before Saturday.
One of the hardest hit areas was the Fraser Valley where freezing rain and a buildup of ice brought down trees and power lines Thursday night, knocking out electricity to thousands.
A statement from BC Hydro says the Eastern Fraser Valley continues to be impacted by freezing rain and winter conditions, and additional crews were being brought in Friday from other areas as more than 8,700 customers were without power.
An extreme cold alert remains in effect for Yoho and Kootenay parks, the Peace River region, North Coast and the South Klondike Highway, where Environment Canada says temperatures will feel as low as -45 C with the wind chill.