One man is dead and two people were pulled from the Gorge Waterway suffering from hypothermia Thursday night after a boat overturned.

The man’s body was discovered about 9 p.m. after boats from the Saanich Fire Department and the auxiliary coast guard combed the pitch-black waters of the Gorge with floodlights.

The incident began just after 5 p.m. when Victoria police responded to a call reporting screams for help from the Gorge near Banfield Park.

Sgt. Glenn Vermette said officers arrived and saw a capsized boat with at least two people clinging to it.

“They were in distress and fading,” Vermette said.

A man and a woman believed to be in their 40s or older were rescued. But they lost consciousness before they were pulled from the water and were unable to confirm whether a third person had been with them. They were taken to hospital in critical condition, police said.

B.C. Ambulance paramedics waited on the wharf at the foot of Styles Street across from Chapman Point. As the hours passed, the effort turned into a recovery mission, not a rescue one. “No one could survive this long in that water,” said Vermette.

Victoria police Staff Sgt. Darren Laur said the body was found close to the boat, which he said appeared to be a 10-foot fibreglass dinghy. Laur said the investigation is still in its early stages, but the vessel appears to have flipped.

Police said earlier that alcohol may have been a factor in the incident.

Vermette said the search was seriously hampered by the lack of a helicopter with searchlights, noting police tried to obtain one from the RCMP, military police and Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre. “It would have made a big difference to have that overhead light,” Vermette said.

jhatherly@tc.canwest.com