Man presumed drowned after disappearing in Metro Vancouver lake

WEST VANCOUVER — Police in West Vancouver say a 29-year-old man is presumed to have drowned after going missing while swimming across a lake in Cypress Provincial Park.

They say BC Emergency Health Services and North Shore Rescue reported the man missing to the department around 6:30 p.m. Sunday.

Police say the man, who was from Burnaby, was swimming across Cabin Lake with his fiancée when he “began to struggle.”

They say several witnesses saw the man in distress and his companion trying to help him before the man slipped beneath the surface and disappeared.

A news release from the department says North Shore Rescue and West Vancouver Fire Service conducted an initial search in the water Sunday night, but were forced to suspend it as it got dark.

It says another underwater search will be conducted, but police confirmed the man’s family has been notified and the investigation will be turned over to the BC Coroners Service once the body has been recovered from the lake.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 16, 2025.