Dive team searches B.C. lake for canoeists as residents brace for more bad news

NELSON, B.C. – An RCMP dive team is searching a British Columbia lake for the bodies of three males as the grieving residents of New Denver brace themselves for more bad news.

Sgt. Darryl Little says eight divers entered the water at 9 a.m. in hopes of finding the bodies of the males whose canoe flipped over on Slocan Lake, about 700 kilometres east of Vancouver.

Emergency crews were called to the lake on Saturday, where they found 19-year-old Lily Harmer-Taylor unconscious in the canoe and rushed her to hospital.

Harmer-Taylor died, and the air and ground search for the males between 15 and 21 has turned up no clues of their whereabouts.

Mayor Ann Bunka of the village of New Denver is thanking search and rescue crews for their efforts and says residents are focusing on supporting the families and friends of the four canoeists.

Grief counsellors are available at the community's only high school, where one of the canoeists was to graduate in a few weeks.