A Clearwater man missing since Thursday, June 26, has been identified as Peter Gerbrandt, a young husband and father of three. Gerbrandt was last heard from at approximately 1:15 a.m. on Thursday while kayaking on Clearwater Lake in Wells Gray Park.
According to Sgt. Grant Simpson. "Const. Lane Tobin received the call early on Thursday at 3:30 a.m. and we decided to take his personal boat since we don’t have access to an RCMP boat near us within a reasonable time frame. We coordinated with Wells Gray Search and Rescue once they arrived with an additional boat, with both teams searching for hours.”
In a social media post a family member thanked searchers while also asking for prayers that Gerbrandt be found and for his family.
Simpson said search efforts continued throughout the early morning hours and that Gerbrandt had a Garmin inReach Mini with him at the time, having sent a few messages which showed readings giving a general idea of where he last communicated from.
Sgt. Simpson explained that an InReach Mini is designed to send and receive messages, track locations, and trigger SOS alerts via a satellite network, allowing communication in areas without cellular coverage.
“We managed to track down a team out of Manitoba that deploys to assist in situations like this called the HEART Team. They are a Hutterite Emergency Aquatic Response Team (HEART) with specialized equipment for these types of deep water locating and recovery missions,” said Const. Tobin when speaking with Black Press on Saturday, June 28.
The Heart Team is currently en route travelling from Manitoba having been contacted by the Clearwater RCMP and Gerbrandt’s family to assist in the search.
President and manager of Wells Gray Search and Rescue Ryan McLarty said, "Our SAR team was operational on Thursday on Clearwater Lake. We hope that HEART will be successful in helping bring closure to the family. HEART has been operational in British Columbia previously and provides a service that augments SAR operations. Our condolences to Peter's family and friends."
In speaking with Paul Maendel, HEART dive team coordinator, while travelling to B.C. to assist in the search for Peter Gerbrandt on Saturday, he said, “I’ve been involved with this for about 20 years now. What we do involves imaging equipment. What we do have is an approximate location where Peter went missing and at that point, we would deploy various sonar technologies. The sonar are tools for imaging underwater. We have sonar that we can lower to the bottom of the lakebed. We also have a remotely operated vehicle or robot, probably best described as an underwater drone. That machine also has a camera and sonar, this machine can also assist in the recovery as well.”
Maendel explains that since Clearwater Lake is a very deep being “way too deep for divers” and requires specialized equipment for “saturation diving” which is potentially too dangerous and why their equipment can be the most effective in situations like this.
“Of course, the family is hoping for the best. The best scenario is that Peter will be found alive and maybe on shore. From our experience this is a recovery mission, and this is what we are coming to do,” said Maendel.
When asked how these missions by HEART are funded, Maendel replied, “Interestingly a lot of our missions are crowd funded. On our social media page, we post a link where people can make donations and then it’s the general public that often end up funding these missions and it’s also supported by the Hutterite church and supporters that help us. The families never have to pay anything for these missions because they couldn’t afford it if we were charging. The last thing they need during times like these would be paying for a dive team.”
A Facebook post from the HEART Team requesting donations in support of the Clearwater Lake search for Peter Gerbrandt was also posted on June 28 at 12 p.m. that reads in part: “HEART received a desperate call from a family in B.C. to come search for a man that is presumed drowned in Clearwater Lake. Peter Gerbrandt, is a young dad of three little children, that went out on a kayak on Thursday night to light and place candles on the lake for his late daughter Alita, who recently passed away. In the process he must have tipped over and fallen out of his kayak. His wife and brother heard splashing from shore, but Peter didn’t respond to their calls. They found his overturned kayak in the dark and candles floating nearby but he was missing. This happened only a few 100 feet from shore, but the water is 300 feet deep there. We are deployed to B.C. in response to this plea for help…” To donate to HEART Team’s rescue efforts, you can visit:
