(Image Credit: CFJC Today File)

By Victor Kaisar

Search and Rescue

Kamloops Search and Rescue reports another busy year in 2025

Jan 3, 2026 | 1:00 PM

KAMLOOPS — Kamloops Search and Rescue (KSAR) is reporting another busy year in 2025, though not as busy as the record year it experienced in 2024.

KSAR says its members were called out to 59 incidents and tasks last year, which includes 14 calls to assist the RCMP and 42 mutual aid calls to assist other search and rescue teams. While that’s down from the 75 calls last year, KSAR notes its members contributed over 12,670 volunteer hours last year.

According to KSAR, its members also helped save the lives of 10 people last year.

In a summary posted to Facebook, KSAR its volunteers were called out to 12 swift water rescues, four rope rescues, and three winter rescues last year. The KSAR K9 team was also deployed on 24 tasks across 2025, it said.

Of note in 2025, KSAR was called to search for Thompson Rivers University student Jatin Garg, who was swept away from the beach at Overlanders Park on July 6. Garg’s body was pulled from the Thompson River on July 15.

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KSAR has also helped search for Braden Wallace-Peters, who is presumed to have drowned after he jumped off the Overlanders Bridge on July 30. KSAR was also called to assist after a TRU international student drowned in Tobiano on Aug. 23.

A majority of KSAR’s calls for service – 68 per cent – came during the day, with the other 32 per cent coming at night. Most of KSAR’s calls happened in the third quarter of 2025 – coinciding with the summer months of July to September – with calls peaking in September.

KSAR held a recruitment drive in March, and it notes 11 new members were added to the ranks in 2025. The team currently has 44 certified operational members as well as five auxiliary/support members who help with things like radio communication or in administration and legal.