Don’t tie your channel floats together

Emergency personnel were called to a false alarm on the Okanagan River Channel this afternoon, after a possible drowning was called in to 911.

According to reports, the call began when two boys became entangled on the side of the channel, and two men jumped in and helped free their floaties.

The boys continued their float, apparently, and the two men began swimming down channel to catch up with their group. A witness at the scene heard the two men explain that the boats had been tied together and got stuck on the cement pillars at one of the bridges.

In the confusion, a call was placed to 911, with ambulance and fire responding.

Firefighters have previously put out the warning to refrain from tying up rafts. It is one of the common causes for emergency calls on the channel as rafts wind up on either side of bridge supports, knocking floaters into the water.