A mother has died and her seven-month-old son is in hospital after the pair were pulled from the Puntledge River in Courtenay.
Police couldn’t say Saturday how or why the two ended up in the water near the Condensory Bridge. “We don’t know if she fell, if she may have walked in, or if someone may have seen her jump,” said RCMP spokesman Const. Don Sinclair.
“It’s a tragedy.”
Police have concluded only that the pair were not pushed.
“There is no indication that any third party was involved in the pair entering the water,” Sinclair said.
The woman was married, he said, and her family has been notified. Police did not release her name.
The B.C. Coroners Service has taken over as the lead investigative agency. Spokeswoman Barb McLintock said Saturday that investigators will examine any potentially relevant factor, “which could include anything from tragic fall to post-partum depression [and] psychosis.”
Courtenay Mayor Larry Jangula said the city is reeling from the loss.
“Our entire community is shocked and saddened and feel the grief of this,” Jangula said. “However it happened, it’s an awful loss. It’s profoundly awful when it involves children.”
Calls to 911 at 2:29 p.m. Friday reported a woman and baby in the river near the Condensory Bridge in downtown Courtenay.
Jaime Libby was among the first to see the pair. “I saw the child face down in the river,” Libby said. “The woman was bobbing up and down. She would surface and then go down.”
Libby flagged down vehicles. Doug Bams stopped to help. He tried in vain to grab the woman floating in the water: “She would come up and down … then she never surfaced again.”
Another man jumped in the river and swam toward the mother and child, but he was unable to reach them.
Mounties arrived on foot, by boat and by helicopter. They were assisted by crews from Comox Valley search-and-rescue and Courtenay Fire on both sides of the river. Rescuers “mobilized extremely quickly,” Sinclair said.
Officers on the shore rescued the child from the water just before 3 p.m., Comox Valley RCMP said. Firefighters and B.C. Ambulance paramedics tried to revive the infant, who was in the water for at least 25 minutes.
He was taken to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Comox and then airlifted to Vancouver’s B.C. Children’s Hospital, where he was listed in critical condition.
The hospital did not provide an update of the child’s condition on Saturday.
The woman was located about an hour later, submerged, near the 5th Street Bridge at 4:12 p.m.
B.C. Ambulance paramedics tried to resuscitate her. She was pronounced dead at 6:55 p.m. at St. Joseph’s Hospital, Sinclair said.
The woman’s vehicle was located near the Condensory Bridge and has been towed for investigation.
Police are asking anyone who might have seen the mother and infant near or in the waters of the Puntledge River prior to 2:40 p.m. on Friday to call the Comox Valley RCMP at 250-338-1321.
“Anything would help, just so we can get an idea of what happened,” Sinclair said.
Comox Valley RCMP are also warning the public to stay away from the edge of the mountain-fed Puntledge River.
“The water is running fast this time of year,” Sinclair said. “It’s high and it’s extremely cold. You don’t last very long, mobility wise, in that kind of temperature.”
ceharnett@timescolonist.com
— With files Comox Valley Echo
