THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2015 PM0040030872
Volume 41, Issue 42
www.starjournal.net
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‘IT WAS A MIRACLE’: Seniors who almost drowned search for Good Samaritans
2014 CCNA
By Tim Petruk Kamloops This Week
Trade deal doesn’t fix U.S. lumber issue: Harper ..... page 3
It was “a fluke.” That’s how Good Samaritan Ryan Fisher described it — the chance role he played in saving the lives of two Kamloops men who had all but given up on survival after their boat flipped in a small North Thompson lake last month. Fisher said he was driving with his family down a back-country road near Barriere
when he was flagged down. “I was taking my kids camping and one guy came running up, yelling and screaming,” he said. “By then, they’d already got the two guys down to the dock.” The “two guys” were Allan Pasichnyk and Ernie Matechuk. Pasichnyk, 84, and Matechuk, 71, have been fishing buddies for more than a decade. They spend most Thursdays at Gorman
Lake, 19 kilometres northwest of Barriere. The secluded spot became their go-to fishing hole because of its isolation. “We go on Thursdays because there’s no one else on the lake,” Pasichnyk told KTW. “We could be there all day and see maybe two or three vehicles.” Pasichnyk characterized the “fluke” as something else entirely. “It was a miracle,” he said. ***
More than a month removed from their Sept. 3 brush with death, Pasichnyk and Matechuk are still unclear on the details. “I don’t know exactly what happened,” Pasichnyk said. “I caught a fish, but I had my line behind the oar, so I just turned around and stepped back — and over we went.” Their nine-foot flatbottom boat flipped. Both men had life vests, but only Mat-
all,” Matechuk said. “That’s why I didn’t think I would get hypothermia, because I didn’t feel cold.” They were about 100 feet from shore — too far for Pasichnyk to swim without a life vest. So, he grabbed hold of the overturned boat and prayed. “I hung on,” he said. “We finally realized we’re not going to make it, so both Ernie and I prayed.
ry for me, I said, ‘Allan, I think this is it.’” All the while, Pasichnyk said, they were praying. “I had given up, too,” he said. “Then, we heard a holler from the road and our hopes just boosted right up. “Both of us sent up a holler. I think they heard it down to Kamloops. “About the last thing I remember is a boat coming out to our boat. I just re(DAVE EAGLES/KTW)
Allan Pasichnyk (left) and Ernie Matechuk are lucky to be alive — and now they want to thank their unidentified saviours.
330 homemade apple pies raise over $2600 for splash pad ..... page 10
Business of the Year announced. Check out the Small Business Week supplement in this edition ..... page B1
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STAR/JOURNAL photo: Jill Hayward
Last chance to vote Oct. 19 Barriere’s Central Poll Supervisor, Wim Houben, welcoming voters last Sunday to the Advanced Voting station in the Barriere Lion’s Hall which was open Oct. 12-19. Your last opportunity to vote in the Oct. 19, Federal Election takes place next Monday, when area voters can cast their ballots from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. at the Barriere & District Senior Society Drop-in Centre, at 4433 Barriere Town Road.
echuk was wearing his. Pasichnyk had given his preserver to his friend to keep his legs dry in the rain. In all their years fishing together, the pair said, they had never gone into the water. “It just happened so quick,” Matechuk said. “The boat created some sort of vacuum underneath and we couldn’t move it.” The water in Gorman Lake was 13 C, according to Pasichnyk’s fish finder. Both men went into shock. “I didn’t feel cold at
“We turned to the good Lord, the only one who could help us, and he did. “It really was a miracle.” *** After spending an hour trying to stay afloat in cold water, with colder rain pouring down, Pasichnyk and Matechuk had given up. “I told Allan, because he said a few times, ‘You swim to shore — I’m going to let go of the boat,’” Matechuk said. “I said, ‘I’m not going to leave you here.’ “I remember, when it started getting blur-
member the boat coming to ours.” *** According to Fisher, the two life-savers happened upon the distressed men by complete chance. “They told me the only reason they stopped is because one of them had to go pee,” he said. “And, the other one was just looking around with his binoculars and he saw the capsized boat. “It was a fluke.” Fisher said the Good Samaritans rushed into action, getting their own boat ...continued on page 3
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