By IAN LORENZ
Daily News Intern Reporter
Search and rescue officials returned to Albas Provincial Park Tuesday evening with the news everyone had hoped would not come. The body of one of two boys swept over a waterfall at Celista Creek Monday had been found.
Todd Campbell, 15, and Jacob Befurt, 14, went missing after being pulled over the 15-metre water fall. Jacob’s body was found at about 6 p.m., under water near the mouth of Celista Creek where it empties into the Seymour Arm of the Shuswap Lake system.
(Inserted Note) The Befurt Family has been camping at Albas for many years and live and work in Kamloops)
The search for Todd will continue today.
Todd and Jacob were swimming near the falls with four other young friends when one of the boys lost his footing and slipped dangerously close to a series of three water falls.
One teen attempted to help him and both were swept down stream.
Family and friends gathered solemnly near the raging waters of Celista Creek Tuesday desperately hoping for any news from the searchers. Close friends of one of the families said the “family is understandably distraught.”
Two teams of 20 search officials as well as several volunteers had been looking for the two teens since Monday at about 3 p.m.
Kamloops RCMP dive team, Kamloops Search and Rescue and the Vernon Swift Water Rescue were on the scene Tuesday from 6:30 a.m until dark. The Kamloops RCMP helicopter was also hunting by air.
Const. Mark Skotnicki said the Vernon Swift Water Rescue team specializes in moving water searches and are trained to work in dangerous conditions of fast-flowing water with swift back eddies.
He said although the boys were only wearing swimsuits, everyone had stilled hoped for a positive outcome.
The RCMP and Search and Rescue members scanned the creek bottom with dive equipment and poles from the mouth of Celista Creek on the Seymour Arm of the Shuswap Lake to the base of the falls.
Some family members had stayed near Celista Creek to be near the search effort while others returned home to deal with the tragedy in private. Several friends and family joined in the search, said Skotnicki.
"Volunteers from the local area and friends of the family have assisted an enormous amount of support and help. It has been appreciated," he added.
Skotnicki said high water played a part in the accident.
"High water was definitely a factor," he said. "Just before the accident there was an intense rain storm in the area and people from the area said the creek was a lot higher than usual."
Local residents said the area where the teens were swimming was not safe especially when the water is as swift as it was Monday.
"In the area where the accident occurred, the water has a great intensity and force," said Skotnicki.
Albas Provincial Park is about 50 minutes by land past Scotch Creek. The final stretch to Seymour Arm is by way of a rough back road.
Search for missing teen called off after three days
By ROBERT FAULKNER Daily News Intern Reporter
Search and rescue crews walked, probed and swam through Celista Creek Wednesday in another
effort to recover the body of Todd Campbell who was swept into the water with Jacob Befurt
on Monday. RCMP officers from Kamloops and Chase joined Shuswap Volunteer Search and
Rescue, a Vernon swift water team and friends of the Campbells in Albas Provincial Park at
noon, hoping the overhead sun would shed light on a three-day-old tragedy. Chase RCMP
Const. Mark Skotnicki said the discovery of Jacob’s body late Tuesday would give
searchers “a starting point for today.” Kamloops RCMP divers began their search at the
mouth of the creek about 150 metres past the log jam where Jacob’s body was found by a
search volunteer. He had suffered broken bones from the force of the fall. “We will be
glad to give closure to the family, even though it is a worst-case scenario,” Skotnicki
said. At this point, he added, a positive result would be to find Todd’s body and let
his family carry on with their grieving process. Gathered for their morning briefing,
search officials passed around a photo of Todd, 15, and Jacob, 14, taken moments before
they vanished in the rapids. They believe Todd’s body is either trapped above the falls
where he entered the water, caught by fallen branches or somewhere in Shuswap Lake. “Our
biggest fear is that Todd was missed in the river,” he said, adding that both Albas
Falls and Shuswap Lake present their own challenges. “It would be very difficult to find
him higher up (and) no consideration has been made of dredging the lake.” The search
progresses day by day, he added. Kamloops RCMP Sgt. Reid Tait, a specialist in underwater
recovery, said the fast-flowing waterfalls where the boys entered the creek are
treacherous. He said water moving at the speed and volume of Albas Falls “is powerful
and frustrating because it can do strange things.” “There is no sense in jeopardizing
a life -- that’s no longer a rescue. We have to decide if we can continue or not, based
on whether we are operating in a safe environment. If we don’t find him today, he may be
above the falls.” Family friends, anxious to help, have been enlisted by the Provincial
Emergency Program for the search. Two divers from Underwater Works joined three
recreational divers who are close to the Campbell family. “I’m just here to comb every
branch and hole and curve,” said Tim Brausse, a friend, as he began his second day of
diving. Earlier Wednesday, he said the visibility near the log jam was all right, allowing
him to see about three metres underwater. A six-person team of Shuswap volunteers was also
on hand to assist the RCMP with communication, safety ropes and to help their dive team
operate. Soon after arriving, they set up base camp near the lowest bridge on the creek.
Antennas were propped high into the forest canopy for radio reception in the
out-of-the-way spot. “At a falls, the steepness, height and the volume of water can make
it too dangerous for crews to go into. And you have to be careful about dislodging debris
when divers are hoping for the best visibility lower down,” said Donald Reed, a search
manager with Shuswap Volunteer Search and Rescue. Todd and Jacob were swimming above Albas
Falls Monday afternoon when one boy lost his footing on a craggy rock in mid-stream. One
teen tried to help the other and both were washed downstream.
Park visitors relax alongside searchers
ALBAS PROVINCIAL PARK -- Seven houseboats are berthed along the shore and children play
with buckets on the gravely beach. As the weekend approaches, tourists are trickling into
Albas Provincial Park, towing RVs and coolers to the hideaway in the northern reaches of
the Shuswap.
But just a short walk from the fun, over the deadheads and through the weeds, search crews continue their three-day effort to find the second of two boys swept into the rapids of Celista Creek.
Dale Parker brought his kids, Chelsey, 11, and Steven, 9, from Courtney to the park for a couple nights. They frolic in the water as he explains how he played slo-pitch with Todd Campbell’s father, Brian, and how the search effort has colored his holiday.
“We came up yesterday,” he said. “And we gotta head back tomorrow. You really feel for the family. But what else can you do?”
On the road leading up to the falls where Todd, 15, and Jacob Befurt, 14, entered Celista Creek, a family strolls through the sunlight and stops to chat. The father tells of how his Chilliwack family has been coming to Albas for about eight years. And he mentions the attraction that draws the crowds year after year.
“People come and they walk up to see the waterfalls. The trail isn’t that difficult and they are some pretty nice falls. But they are always treacherous,” he says.
More people are camped at the park than usual, the father adds, and the number of houseboats is surprising. In past years the park was empty by the middle of August, he says. “But the search and publicity won’t attract anybody, obviously.”
He says the water is about 50 centimetres higher than normal. Walking areas near the falls are wet, he notes, and parts of the beach lay under a blanket of water.
Down on the beach, an Anglemont boy unties the tarp over the family boat. He looks no older than Todd and says he worked with the missing boy and his father building log homes near Scotch Creek. “I was leery to come up here when I heard the news,” he says. “My mom would slap me if she knew I did that stuff too.”
Although he was not one of Todd’s close friends, he remembers him fondly. “It’s sad that something like this happens to a kid like that,” he says. “He was excellent. He didn’t do anything wrong and he had good relationships with everyone.”
“I used to come out here as a kid and the gates all said, Don’t Swim, and all that. Magna Bay was a real good jumping area but about a year ago a guy had a few to drink, jumped out and died.”
“I grew up and had my fun. And I know you don’t survive everything. But when you’re young, you think nothing can hurt you in the world. This has made me think a little bit... I’ve sat by myself and wondered.”
Tuesday, August 17, 1999
Updated weekday afternoons and Saturday mornings
Second search of creek fails
to recover missing boy
By MARNIE TAYLOR
Daily News Staff Reporter
A search and rescue team failed to find the body of a missing teen Sunday who was swept into Celista Creek one week ago.
Two teams of four searchers probed the swirling pools and deep waters of Celista Creek Sunday looking for any sign of Todd Campbell, 15.
Campbell, along with 14-year old Jacob Befurt from Kamloops, were swept away last Monday. Befurt’s body has since been recovered.
The divers returned to the site Sunday despite the official search being called off last Wednesday. The teams retraced the rushing river from the mouth, where it empties into Shuswap Lake, to the area where the two teens were swept away.
Both Chase RCMP and divers believe Campbell’s body is still stuck somewhere in Celista Creek and has not been washed down into Shuswap Lake.
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Friends, family remember Jacob Befurt
Hundreds of friends and relatives filled the Kamloops United Church Saturday to celebrate
the life of Jacob Befurt, 14, who drowned in Celista Creek Monday.
Presiding over the solemn event, Rev. John Smallwood welcomed the crowd at 1 p.m. and urged them to “focus (their) energies on the joy-filled moments because Jacob was joyfully adored by all.”
“The healthiest thing to do in this time of darkness is to speak openly and honestly about Jacob,” he added. “Trying to forget is, by far, the more painful route.”
And memories flowed through the packed hall.
Jacob’s uncle, Shane Kennedy of Edmonton, said the tragedy which united family from across Canada must not overshadow “how deeply Jacob lived.” The Westsyde Secondary student adored the saxophone, the drag racing club and possessed a profound love of nature.
“He was a young man of the woods, a very cool young man of the woods,” said Kennedy. “He planned to build a house up in the hills and invite all his friends to come live with him. He would also use his lunch money while working at Sun Peaks to buy french fries to feed the whiskeyjacks. He thought it was the greatest thing.”
Trevor Befurt, an uncle from Kamloops, recalled Jacob’s excitement every winter when it was time to make an ice skating rink. And the Kamloops boy considered Albas Provincial Park, the area where he died, his summer refuge filled with wake boarding and experimental homemade pizzas, he added.
“The last time we saw him we had boated to Albas from Blind Bay and as soon as he saw us he said, Oh great I get to go wake boarding! After a big day he made this meat pizza for the kids with about two inches of meat on top. Needless to say, we adults didn’t get a bite of it,” Befurt joked.
Kennedy said Jacob’s parents, Nicole and Tom Befurt, greatly appreciate the search and rescue effort by RCMP teams and volunteers near Seymour Arm. Crews discovered Jacob’s body Tuesday night but called off the search for Todd Anderson due to high water levels and treacherous rock faces in Celista Creek.
The Sun Peaks junior ski patroller, saxophonist and outdoor explorer leaves behind brothers James, 9, and Liam, 2, and many others.
To conclude the service, Rev. Smallwood shared an observation with the capacity crowd. “I can’t help noticing that flying around the beautiful floral arrangements in the hall is a small moth. Make of it what you will.”
Wednesday, August 18, 1999
Updated weekday afternoons and Saturday mornings
By MARNIE TAYLOR
Daily News Staff Reporter
The search for Todd Campbell came to an end Monday after a dive team located the boy’s body in Celista Creek.
Todd was found wedged under some rocks above a waterfall. The water had carried the boy over two sets of waterfalls and he was found above the third.
Todd, 15, along with Jacob Befurt, 14, were swept into the rushing water near Albas Provincial Park Aug. 9. Both boys were swimming near the top of a 15-metre waterfall with four other friends when one of the teens lost his footing and slipped. Another teen attempted to help and both were swept downstream.
Jacob’s body was found last week and RCMP officials called off the search for Todd’s body, saying conditions were too treacherous for divers.
But Todd’s family refused to give up and hired a dive team out of Vancouver. The search, involving more than 90 people, had resumed Sunday.
“That’s all the family wanted was to find the body. That was very important and they weren’t giving up. We knew he was in there and we were going to find him,” said Yolande Campbell, Todd’s aunt.
The force of the water and steep rock faces made the search difficult, she added.
“Everyone worked so, so hard. The family is very grateful,” Campbell said.
Chase RCMP Sgt. Dave Williams said police were notified at about 10 a.m. that searchers had found the body. A crew was then helicoptered in to retrieve the boy’s body from the creek.
“It’s very remote and there are problems getting into the site. It’s taking awhile,” he said Monday.
Campbell, who along with husband Donald owns Westcan Auto Parts in Valleyview, said any donations are welcomed as the cost of the two-day search and rescue was being borne by the family.
Funeral arrangements have not yet been announced.