The search for a 68-year-old woman who fell into the Willow River was called off Tuesday evening, seven hours after emergency responders were called to the scene about 40 kilometres east of Prince George.
The woman, whose name has not yet been released, was with a companion and walking her dogs when she fell into the river where it passes underneath Highway 16 and about 200 metres upstream from the Willow River Canyon.
With the spring melt running into local rivers, the Willow is torrential and while about 20 search and rescue volunteers searched along the banks they refrained from entering the fast moving and dangerous water.
"The water is flowing at 18 miles an hour, three times faster than the Fraser River," Prince George Search and Rescue Society president Jeff Smedley.
The companion and the dogs remained on dry land and are safe, Smedley said.
An RCMP airplane and a helicopter from a local company the aerial search from the bridge to the Fraser River, covering the stretch several times before the search was called off at 7:30 p.m.
"The RCMP's air services section will continue to search the river at various times throughout the next week," Prince George RCMP Cpl. Craig Douglass said. "Ground and water search may continue when the river declines and is deemed safer."
The woman went missing almost a year to the day that two other women, Christy Schwing, 31, and Carolyn Simpson, 43 were killed when the jet boat they were lost power, struck a logjam and went under in the lower reaches of the Willow River.
The two men were in the boat were able to scramble onto the logs plugging the riverway, but the two women and the boat itself were shoved by the current under the debris pile.
It was also nearly 39 years ago to the day that eight Prince George youths perished in the Willow River Canyon onduring a Mother's Day weekend canoe trip just weeks before they were to graduate.
Smedley said he did not want to say people should avoid the area's rivers at this time of year but advised that they should be careful while in their vicinities.
"Be aware the bank could erode and that if you do happen to get into the water, it's very quickly going to move you downstream," Smedley said.
