The body of a Burnaby man who went missing in the waters of the Fraser River near Surrey earlier this month has been recovered.
On Tuesday, Surrey RCMP confirmed the man reported missing June 4 was located deceased on a bank of the Fraser River near Richmond on June 17.
A passerby found the man and called police.
RCMP said his family has been notified and the investigation is being handed over to the B.C. Coroners Service. The name of the man was not released.
“The family asks that their privacy be respected during this time of grief,” an RCMP press release stated.
In the early morning of June 4, police were called out after getting a report of a missing swimmer in the Fraser River. A group of adult men was on the beach at Old Yale Road in Surrey.
Police said the men had started a bonfire and were drinking, when they decided to jump into the cold swift-moving waters of the Fraser River and attempt to swim around the SkyTrain bridge pillar and back to shore.
The 32-year-old man from Burnaby was seen going under the water and did not resurface. The group looked for the man but couldn’t find him.
The RCMP, search and rescue and the coast guard were all called to help find the man, but after several hours of searching decision was made to call off the search.
