The search continues beneath the waves of Francois Lake for a missing man from the area and reinforcements from the United States are on the way.
Famed underwater searchers Gene and Sandy Ralston from Idaho are scheduled to join the search within a week, should missing Burns Lake man Syd Neville not be discovered sooner.
Neville, 35, and his nephew, 21, were fishing June 7 when a storm blew in on the 90-kilometre-long lake and capsized their boat.
The nephew, who was wearing a life jacket, survived the ordeal but Neville, who was not wearing a life jacket, did not. The two struggled for an undetermined amount of time to stay afloat with the boat in the cold, tumultuous water, but eventually Neville, a survivor from the Babine Forest Products mill explosion last January, could hang on no longer.
An official search was conducted by the RCMP with the area's Search And Rescue groups. It was called off without finding any sign of Neville. Family and friends continued to search in private boats with borrowed or donated equipment.
Specialists from Terrace Water Rescue came to the lake this past weekend and, rejoined by the Lakes District's Search And Rescue crew, added stronger sonar to the efforts. Still, it was in vain. The lake west of Prince George and south of Burns Lake is one of northern B.C.'s biggest and deepest bodies of water. To increase their odds of recovering Neville, family and supporters have brought in the Ralsons, a deep-water recovery specialist duo that has successfully recovered more than 80 bodies from various bodies of water all over the continent.
Ralston and Associates is a water sciences company that typically works for industry and government on various projects from fish inventories to water quality surveys to environmental permit verifications.
When they can, they use their sophisticated equipment and specialist knowledge to help grieving families find closure, when a body is missing in a large body of water. There are expenses to pay for, but they conduct much of this work at greatly discounted rates.
Neville's sister Jaycille said calls were made to the Ralstons within days of her brother's incident. They were not immediately available, but are now scheduled to arrive at Francois Lake within the next few days.
"They told us at first they had other commitments," said Jaycille, but the family was not disheartened. "They have already been to B.C. a couple of times this year, helping to locate missing people at Shuswap Lake and Nicola Lake, so when they say they have prior commitments we know it wasn't having tea with the neighbours."
The problem with the searches up until now, said Jaycille, was an uncertain sense of Neville's last location. His nephew has done his best to remember, but the crisis conditions clouded his perceptions.
"The Ralstons have been awesome to deal with, and the whole community has been amazing with all the support," said Jaycille. "People have been showing up on the doorstep with food, money, 'what do you want us to get for you?', whatever they can do. It's an amazing community."
She is frustrated, however, with the region's lack of infrastructure.
"I can't believe the Lakes District has so little equipment and expertise for water rescues and recoveries," Jaycille said. "The province really should think about how to take care of that. It happened to us, and it is going to happen to other people."
Fundraising is underway to help both the search effort and Neville's widow (they were married only two weeks before the incident) and their two small children. Anyone wishing to contribute can direct funds to the Syd Neville Family Account (No. 100000401893) at the Bulkley Valley Credit Union-Burns Lake Branch.
