Drowning deaths climb with B.C. temperatures

A toddler who drowned in B.C.'s Okanagan Lake on Friday was one of four people who drowned in separate incidents around the province during a hot spell last weekend.

The little boy was found face down and unconscious in the lake just moments after his family arrived for a vacation on the northwest side of the lake, North Okanagan RCMP officers said on Tuesday.

The child was not wearing a life jacket because his family had just reached the rental property, according to a statement released by Cpl. Dan Moskaluk on Tuesday morning.

He was rushed to hospital in Kelowna by air ambulance, but could not be saved.

Three boaters also died over the weekend in accidents on waterways in the Fraser Valley and on Vancouver Island.

A 16-year-old girl died on Hatzic Lake when she fell from the bow of a boat and was run over. A 50-year-old man drowned in Harrison Lake when his sailboat flipped, and a Vancouver Island man went missing and was presumed drowned after his boat was found empty in Alberni Inlet.

The lifeless body of a four-year-old girl was found floating near the shore of Swy-Lana Lagoon in Nanaimo on Saturday, but she was luckily saved by ambulance attendants and made a full recovery.

Earlier last week, a two-year-old girl was  pulled from a backyard pool in Surrey, but she was saved by a bystander who gave her CPR.