Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

RCMP rescue camper lost during bathroom break on small B.C. island

newcastle-island-bc-min
A wooded area on Newcastle Island, B.C. (via Shutterstock)

A late-night bathroom break led a 66-year-old camper to get lost for hours on Newcastle Island, located a 10-minute boat ride from Nanaimo.

She was camping with friends Sept. 2 and got lost in the short distance between the bathroom facilities and her campsite.

The woman, who uses a walker, realized she had gone the wrong way but decided to keep walking in the hope she would eventually find her friends.

After some time, she gave up and called 911.

That brought Nanaimo RCMP Const. Ty Skrine and Const. Ian Gray to the island on the detachment’s boat. They located the woman after having her phone pinged by the RCMP Communications Centre.

Since she was a one-hour walk from her campsite, the officers offered to take her back to Nanaimo. She accepted and called her friends on Newcastle to let them know she was safe.

— Jeff Bell, Times Colonist