Joint effort saves stranded rafter from island on Jessie Lake

A joint search and rescue effort between the Bonnyville RCMP, EMS and Bonnyville Fire and Rescue on Jessie Lake this morning has one stranded rafter back to shore.

Cst. Megan Letang works for the Bonnyville RCMP and spoke with Lakeland Connect about this morning’s rescue on July 22.

“At 9:30 a.m. we received a call to assist a male who was stuck on an island on Jessie Lake,” Cst. Letang told Lakeland Connect in a phone call. “And in a joint effort with fire and rescue, and EMS we were able to safely get him back to shore.”

Cst. Letang says that the man went out on Jessie Lake with a make-shift raft which eventually sunk while wearing no life jacket.

“If you’re out doing this sort of thing always wear a PFD,” Cst. Letang said.

Officers quickly took control of the situation and grabbed a canoe to rescue the man.

“We also did call search and rescue, but then we ended up being able to get the canoe out,” Cst. Letang said. “But we did deploy all resources available to us to resolve this as quickly as possible.”

The man was uninjured.

Arthur@lakelandconnect.thedev.ca