A concerned citizen's 911 call prompted a full-scale effort to locate a seemingly distraught teenager in the river near the Silver Bridge Wednesday night. The youth was later found dry on shore.
"Basically, somebody walking across the bridge noticed somebody on the other side of the bridge on the outside of the railing," North Cowichan/Duncan RCMP spokesman Cpl. Jon Stuart explained Thursday morning.
The worried walker kept moving but used his mobile phone to call for help. When he turned his head back to confirm what he thought looked like a youth about to jump, the teen was gone.
"The caller thought that they'd gone in the water," Stuart said. "So, all the troops are rallied, everybody attends down there. They do a massive search and find some clothing next to the river." The clothing turned out to be unrelated.
Investigation on land and in boats by police, the Duncan and North Cowichan-South End firefighters and Cowichan Search and Rescue personnel went on to reveal the youth had reconsidered the jump.
"This person was identified later and had admitted to being the person. They had decided not to [jump] and had come back over the railing and walked off the bridge the other way. The person on the phone didn't see that they had walked away."
Stuart said authorities had to err on the side of caution and throw all of their resources at the case.
"It turned out that it was a nothing file but everybody was involved and it was for a good reason," he said.