A Maple Ridge man is presumed drowned after diving into the Pitt River near the Gillnetter Pub Friday night to save a small dog.

Police say the search for 44-year-old Jacques Joseph Noel is now a recovery mission.

Noel and his brother boated across the river from Pitt Meadows around 8 p.m. Friday to have dinner at the Gillnetter. They docked behind the pub, leaving two small dogs inside the boat.

When they left the pub an hour or so later, they noticed that one of the dogs was missing and spotted it underneath a nearby dock.

Noel jumped into the water first and grabbed the dog, but was having trouble getting it back onto dry land. Noel's brother dove in to help.

The brother retrieved the dog and swam to a log boom that parallels the shore about 10 metres out. A neighbour grabbed his small boat and rescued Noel's brother and the dog. Noel, however, had disappeared.

Police were called around 10:30 p.m.

While the RCMP and Port Coquitlam Fire Rescue lit up the shore, two police boats, a tow company with a tugboat, a Coast Guard Auxiliary rescue boat, hovercraft and Fraser River Port Authority searched the water, but couldn't get close to the shore.

A Coast Guard Auxiliary crew from Richmond was on scene for two and a half hours.

"We ran various search patterns, taking into consideration the speed and direction of the current in the area," said Peter Thomas, coxswain of Auxiliary 7, the Steveston-based rescue boat that was first on scene.

Coquitlam Search and Rescue (SAR) joined the search around midnight.

Team leader Al Hurley said he and five searchers, as well as four from Ridge Meadows SAR, searched the shoreline in two boats.

Hurley said the area was mucky and full of reeds, and it was difficult to see through the murky water.

Because the tide was flooding and the surface current was heading upstream, the two teams concentrated on searching up the river towards the Pitt River Bridge.

The teams quit when the tide turned around 3 a.m., after taking two runs up the shore and finding nothing.

"You're going to get currents below the surface that are going downstream but the ones on the surface are going upstream ... that's why it's such a difficult place to search because you never know where a person could pop up," Hurley said.

"It's a very treacherous river to be in when you're not in a boat."

Alcohol is believed to have been a factor in the incident.

Searchers were out in boats all weekend and the RCMP Air 1 chopper was out again Sunday afternoon to do a wide, sweeping area search, but to no avail.

"Everybody's done everything they possibly can," Coquitlam RCMP Cpl. Jane Baptista said.

The RCMP dive team has been contacted, Baptista said, and a team member will be sent out to scout the area.

She said Noel's family has been contacted by Coquitlam RCMP victim services.

"It's a very tragic incident," Baptista said. "They're anxiously hoping for the recovery of their brother."

By  - Staff Reporter -Coquitlam NOW

published on 07/19/2006