2 dead, 3 injured after boat collision on Osoyoos Lake

Two men are dead aftera boat collisionin British Columbia's Osoyoos Lake on Saturday.

The deceased are a 35-year-old man from Kamloops and a 36-year-old man from Maple Ridge, according to Sergeant Jason Bayda of the OsoyoosRCMP.

An RCMP dive team recovered their bodies on Sunday evening shortly after 7:00 p.m. PT.

Police say theyreceived numerous reportsSaturday evening about two boats colliding between Highway 3 and Swiws Provincial Park/HaynesPoint.

The RCMP say both boats sank quickly. Three occupants of one boat were rescued and taken to hospital, two with critical injuries and one in stable condition.

Glenn Senft said he heard the crash and watched one of the boats sink.

He ran down to the causeway and wrenched off a chain blocking vehicle access to the lake so thatparamedics could drive in.

Rich Propp, one of the people involved in the rescue, said he saw debris floating in the waterandpeople waving to him as they clung to the smashed bow of the boat.

He got in his boat and headed in their direction, along with another man in a fishing skiff.

"We went over and started getting the one boy on our boat. The skiff got the other two boys in their boat," he said.

He said one of the people looked to be in "pretty bad" shape, while the other two werein shock.

"I don't think we realized how bad it was until we pulled them out of there," he said.

RCMP say marine analysts are on the lake today investigating the cause of the collision.They are asking anyone who witnessedthe collision to contactOsoyoos RCMP at 250-495-7236.