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UPDATE: Trail man presumed drowned

Jeffery Bauder, 28, of Trail is presumed to have drowned in the Columbia River.
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Search and Rescue teams from Rossland, South Columbia, Castlegar and Nelson have set up base at Gyro Park in Trail to resume the search for a man who went missing on the river Tuesday night. (Sheri Regnier photo)

Search and Rescue (SAR) teams were standing down operations in Trail on Wednesday, after an extensive air, water and ground search failed to find a man missing in the Columbia River.

Police issued a news release in the late afternoon, reporting the man as Jeffery Bauder, 28, of Trail.

He is presumed drowned.

The incident occurred near the Sunningdale pump house at approximately 6 p.m. Tuesday, when a jet ski (personal watercraft) carrying three passengers capsized, knocking all three into the river.

None of the men were wearing a life jacket, according to the police release.

Mike Hudson, from South Columbia SAR, confirmed two of the men were rescued, one by Kootenay Boundary Regional Fire Rescue and the other, by Teck Trail Operations Fire.

Crews from Rossland, South Columbia, Nelson and the Castlegar SAR swift water operations searched for Bauder until dark, and re-deployed to the Gyro Park base the following morning.

“South Columbia was activated around 7 p.m. Tuesday and we immediately began operation,” said Hudson.

“Ground searching was conducted as well as helicopter operations,” he said. “The search was suspended around 10 p.m. due to darkness and the dangers in the river in the dark.”

The 9-1-1 came into regional fire rescue at 6:05 p.m. An eight-person team from Company No. 4 (Trail) responded and report pulling one person from the water at 6:16 p.m. and the Teck crew rescued the other man shortly after.



Sheri Regnier

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