West Kelowna

Photo: Jennifer Zielinski

Campers at Bear Creek Provincial park woke up Sunday morning to find a boat on a sandbar outside the campground.

The 26-foot boat was sitting high and dry; behind it was a deep groove in the sand, showing its path.

A barge with a large crane was working to rescue the land-locked vessel Monday morning. It took almost three hours before the cruiser was floating in water again.

A witness says he heard the boat crashing along the bottom of the lake around 10 p.m. Saturday. He claims he tried to signal to the driver with a flashlight.

"The boat came flying in; it was kind of out of control. He hit the beach and when he got off (the boat), there was front-end damage, and it sounded like maybe he hit another boat out there (before he hit shore). I don't really know what happened, but he busted his throttle off."

Another man who was watching the removal of the boat from the sandbar says his wife was onboard with a friend when the incident happened.

The man wouldn't give his name but says the driver couldn't see because it was dark and there were no lights along shore, so he accidently ran aground.

Both the driver, who was not the owner of the watercraft, and the man's wife are reportedly OK.

Ron Dobbin, the park host, says earlier in the day, a wedding party had been sitting in the exact location where the boat ran a shore.

"If they stayed overnight and had been siting out there, they could have been hit; it's something to think about."

RCMP are still investigating but hadn't gathered enough information to comment on the situation.