The driver of a taxi that plunged into the Okanagan River Channel on Monday evening is safe after people nearby pulled him from the vehicle.
RCMP said around 7:30 p.m. Monday they responded to a report that a Penticton Taxi vehicle had gone into the river channel near Skaha Lake Road. Upon arrival, police found the taxi with its lights on submerged in the water underneath the west side of the bridge. The driver was located nearby on the shore, wet but uninjured.
Sgt. Rick Dellebuur said prior to entering the river channel, the taxi was waiting for a fare in the parking lot at the south end of the channel where people floating the river channel normally unload.
“Witnesses state that the cab was waiting there and it then moved closer to the edge of the roadway to allow other vehicles to pass behind it. They heard the engine rev and saw the cab heading down the grassy embankment into the river channel,” said Dellebuur. “Unknown individuals jumped into the river channel and pulled the driver, a 56-year-old male resident of Summerland, out of the vehicle through the passenger side window.”
The taxi driver was taken by ambulance to Penticton Regional Hospital for assessment. The vehicle was removed from the river channel and the incident is still under investigation.