Search planned for missing angler

Friends and family of an Abbotsford man who has been missing since his boat capsized Friday on the Fraser River are fundraising to search for him on Wednesday.

A GoFundMe campaign has been set up for Damian Dutrisac, 29, who went fishing on the Fraser with a friend. The boat they were in capsized and went underwater, according to fundraising organizer Kaylee Smith.

“No one has seen Damian since. He could have become trapped in an inaccessible spot so please everyone keep an eye out if you're near the river,” she said. “He could be anywhere from Chilliwack to Mission and beyond where the Fraser River and Vedder meet.”

She is asking for anyone with “a boat, time, a drone or other resources” to help in the search, and to contact her through the GoFundMe campaign.

Smith says Chilliwack SAR called off the search by dark Friday, but his family and friends remain hopeful, and have been organizing searches with personal boats.

According to the GoFundMe page, Dutrisac proposed to the “love of his life” in December and was engaged to be married.

“Family and friends will not stop searching the river until he is found. We will not give up. Where there is a will there is a way.”

Cpl. Mike Rail, a spokesman for the Upper Fraser Valley RCMP, said crews have been unable to search the river because the freshet has made it too high and fast.

“It's just too dangerous right now,” he said.

On May 7, around 4:30 p.m., Chilliwack RCMP responded to a report that two men fishing on the Fraser near the mouth of the Sumas River had fallen into the river when their boat capsized.

Dutrisac's friend reached the riverbank and was rescued about an hour later by a passing boater, said Rail. Dutrisac was last seen in the river about 100 yards away.

Members of the Chilliwack RCMP, Abbotsford police, searchand-rescue teams from Chilliwack and Mission, police dogs and a police helicopter searched the river and river bank but didn't find the missing man, Rail said.

There are no plans to resume the search because of the treacherous conditions, he added.

He urged anyone going out on private boats Wednesday to be aware of the dangerous conditions and to wear a personal flotation device at all times.

He also said searchers should be aware of the dangers of cold-water immersion, and stay along the shoreline.