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Unidentified body found floating in Pitt River

Mounties confirm it was a man who had been in the water some time
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RCMP pulled a body from the Pitt River Wednesday afternoon. It’s possible it’s a 25-year-old who went missing after a boating accident back in March. Police could not offer any comment on identity yet. (CarolAnn Hoo/Special to The News)

Mounties confirmed a body has been found floating in Pitt River Wednesday afternoon.

The call came in just before 3 p.m., reporting that a body had been spotted in the waters just off the Grant Narrows boat launch at the north end of Rannie Road in Pitt Meadows.

An RCMP helicopter was deployed, and was able to quickly locate the body, said Ridge Meadows RCMP Sgt. Daniel Rettenbacher.

Subsequently, the local RCMP boat team was sent out and able to pull the body, confirmed that of male, out of the water.

Early indications are that there was nothing suspicious about the man’s death.

“We’re working to identify him right now,” said the sergeant.

The body had been in the water some time, Rettenbacher noted. So Mounties are hoping to use dental record and DNA to verify his identity. The coroner will be involved, and once the identity has been confirmed, police hope to bring some resolution for his family.

Police could not yet say if it was the body of a 25-year-old who went missing after a boating mishap on March 14.

In that incident, a woman died, and the man disappeared when a boat with five people capsized near Monroe Creek – just south of the boat launch. The subsequent search and rescue efforts, involving search teams and police from both Coquitlam and Ridge Meadows, failed to turn up the missing man.

RELATED: One person dead, one missing after boat carrying five people capsizes in Pitt River

If it is that missing man, it’s possible the tides feeding into Pitt Lake pushed the body further upstream towards the mouth of the tidal body of water.

“There are some believes, but right now we can’t speak to that,” Rettenbacher said. He did, however, note that it is one possibility.

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Roxanne Hooper

About the Author: Roxanne Hooper

I began in the news industry at age 15, but honestly, I knew I wanted to be a community journalist even before that.
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