Friends of Derek James Woodrow erected a monument Sunday on the portion of dike adjacent to where Woodrow drowned Saturday afternoon.
The nineteen year old Keremeos resident became trapped in a boulder laced channel of the Similkameen River after falling out of a raft on July 20.
“He was tied in but his rope came undone,” said friends of Woodrow on Monday morning, who were gathered in tribute around the memorial.
A rope bobbing on the river bed marked the spot where Woodrow’s body was recovered.
“He was a good swimmer. He knew this river - he grew up around it. He tubed all the time. He wouldn’t tie a rope around his leg,” stated A.J., countering suggestions that Woodrow had a rope attached to a cooler tied to his leg.
“I wish I had been here,” A.J. added bitterly, “ I would have gotten him out.”
Six friends in five rafts set out from Red Bridge Saturday afternoon for a leisurely cruise to Kobau Park. The accident occurred just west of the intersection of Twelfth Avenue and Second Street. The river is wide at this point, most of it running over a shallow gravel bar. Close to the dike however, a deeper, swifter channel of water runs. The Similkameen River is higher than normal for this time of year, due to late runoff and excessive rains in June.
Shock and mourning over the incident was interspersed with moments of anger from the group of friends gathered around the shrine Monday morning.
“We shouldn’t have had to wait three and a half hours to get his body out,” added Shawn, who was disgusted with the way rescue personnel stood by, preventing friends and family from accessing the scene.
“We would have formed a human chain and gotten him out,” he added.
Those on scene at the time of the accident made several attemps to get to their friend, added Shawn, who estimated that a half hour had passed from the time of the incident to the arrival of emergency personnel.
A.J., Jade and a couple of other friends got together Saturday night and built the memorial for Woodrow. It was placed on the dike Sunday afternoon during an impromptu service.
“This whole area was packed with people,” said Stacey, who was also at the site Monday morning.
A tent was erected Saturday night on the dike, where Woodrow’s sister has been holding nightly vigils since the accident.
“She was with her brother when it happened, and she can’t leave the site,” said Jade tearfully, adding that friends are also camping out with her.
Maureen Purser, Woodrow’s grandmother, told the Review Monday that the family understands the difficulties faced by emergency personnel, adding that they feel no malice towards the emergency crews.
“My daughter was so upset,” she said, “and so were Derek’s friends, because his body was there for so long. But I think everyone understands now how impossible it would have been for anyone to help Derek.”
Stacey and Shawn said that a service was being planned to take place at Cawston Hall on July 27. A bottle drive is already underway to help the family with expenses.
Members of local emergency services expressed their sympathies to family and friends of the victim on Monday. Keremeos Volunteer Fire Chief Jordy Bosscha said the department performed to the limits of their training during the incident, noting that the department is not trained to handle river conditions such as those that existed at the drowning site on Saturday.
“These type of incidents can develop very quickly. There’s not a lot of time when a victim is trapped underwater.
Our emergency personnel are trained to awareness - so that they don’t take chances that end up making themselves victims,” said Regional District Okanagan Similkameen Emergency Services Supervisor Dale Kronebusch.
Members of Penticton’s Search and Rescue Swiftwater Rescue Team recovered the body Saturday evening.