CAROLYN GRANT
Air, water and ground searches of the St. Mary River continued on Tuesday, as Search and Rescue units from across the Kootenays and beyond continued the search for a missing man, 23-year old Alex Brown.
Brown, who was visiting family in Kimberley was reported to have jumped into the St. Mary River on Saturday, July 5 at about 7 p.m. Kimberley RCMP Cpl. Chris Newel said that he surfaced once but then disappeared from sight.
Kimberley Search and Rescue has set up a command centre at the Riverside Campground parking lot as crews work all daylight hours in the water and searching ground along the river side.
"We are continuing ground searches, water searchers and helicopter searches," said Kimberley Search and Rescue member Alison Lomon. "The Civil Air Search and Rescue is flying all the way to Koocanusa, but the ground search is from St. Mary Lake down to the campground, about a 17 to 20 kilometre stretch. We are putting in long, long hours."
Lomon says that the river is not running particularly fast right now, about 12 km per hour, which is normal for this time of year. However, like any river it can have log jams and other hazards.
Search and Rescue teams from around the region have answered the call to help.
"We have Revelstoke in the water with Penticton right now," Lomon said.
Search and Rescue will stay on the job until told to stand down, Lomon says, and that is a call that would be made by the RCMP.