Two women were rescued from the Fraser River in Maple Ridge on Tuesday after they were sucked mid-steam by strong currents.
The pair went for a summer night swim near the Port Haney Wharf, which has been closed to the public for weeks because of high and dangerous river levels.
Emergency services got a call to rescue the women around 9:20 p.m., after they drifted almost 30 feet from the bank, while clinging to a log.
A Ridge Meadows RCMP officer jumped into the river to try to rescue the women, but had to swim back as the current started pulling him downstream.
Firefighters were getting ready to rescue the pair, when a boat arrived to help.
The boaters, from Langley, threw two life jackets to the women, who are their 20s, and pulled them to safety. The boat, carrying six young adults, left before emergency service crews could find out their identities.
“We were on our way back from dinner at the Gillnetter Pub when we saw a lot of emergency vehicles at the shore,” said Domonique Elstak, 24, who was in the boat with five of her friends.
Her boyfriend Kirk Miller owns the boat and was driving that evening.
“I said to Kirk we should go closer and take a look at what was going on. That’s when we saw the two girls in the water holding onto a long log.”
- With files from the Langley Times