Image Credit: Curtis Goodrum / CFJC Today

By Curtis Goodrum

River Safety

Kamloops man launches new society to raise awareness about river safety

Aug 4, 2025 | 12:00 PM

KAMLOOPS – A Kamloops man who had a near-drowning experience in the Thompson River when he saved the lives of two people last summer is taking river safety into his own hands.

Robert Griffiths took to social media on Monday (July 28) to announce he had incorporated the Thompson Rivers Water Safety Society as a means to address “inaction” on the part of the City of Kamloops and Kamloops Fire Rescue.

“With the recent drowning of [TRU student] Jatin Garg. I went down and had a look at the signage and the scene of where it happened,” Robert Griffiths, the founder of the Thompson River Water Safety Society, said.

“Since my near-drowning last year and Mr. [Stan] Cappis’ drowning last year, I’ve been lobbying the city for more signage and, perhaps, some life rings,” said Griffiths.

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Griffiths says he hopes to use the society to “seek real solutions” to communicate hazards effectively, at the place where the hazard exists. He also hopes to provide a means to rescue someone that will not put the rescuer’s life at risk.

“When I hear about what happened with the international student a couple of weeks ago, it brought it all back to me like it happened yesterday,” Griffiths added. “I still have stress management issues dealing with my experience because for me, I nearly died.”

“It was 50/50 rescuing those kids. It could have been a triple drowning.”

According to the RCMP, Garg appeared to have gotten caught in the undercurrent in the river after he went in to retrieve a volleyball near Overlander Park on July 6. Two of his friends who went in to try and help him had to be pulled out of the water themselves.

Just two weeks after Garg’s body was pulled from the river, RCMP said a 23-year-old man is presumed to have drowned after he jumped off the Overlanders Bridge Wednesday (July 30) evening.

For its part, the city has been trying to spread awareness about the dangers the Thompson River on social media and through local media. It also wants people to be aware that the only designated open water swimming site is at Riverside Park.

“We’re doing our part. We think we’re doing enough and we’re happy to sit down with Mr. Griffiths and talk about it,” Kamloops Fire Chief Ken Uzeloc said.

“We also need to balance that with all the responsibilities that the municipality has. Some of the places where I’ve heard Mr. Griffiths wants to install these signs are not even city land.”

Griffiths hopes his new organization will lead to more attention to near-drownings and drownings in the city of Kamloops.

“I think it’s just incumbent on the city to communicate these risks,” he said.

– With files from Victor Kaisar/CFJC Today