Teen rescued after failed attempt to swim Okanagan Lake

VERNON – A 19-year-old from Alberta was rescued from Okanagan Lake after a failed attempt to swim from Ellison Provincial Park near Vernon to the other side of the lake.

RCMP called Vernon Search and Rescue at about 5 p.m., Friday, June 12, and the volunteers launched their boats.

The teen was found an hour later, several hundred metres from the opposite shore.

“They returned him to Ellison Provincial Park where (he) apologized for his actions,” Vernon RCMP spokesperson Gord Molendyk says. “It all started over some drinks and an argument.”

The teenager’s body temperature was low enough it was a concern and he was taken to Vernon Jubilee Hospital to be checked, Molendyk says.

To contact the reporter for this story, email Howard Alexander at halexander@infonews.ca or call 250-491-0331. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.