Police have confirmed that a body found in a B.C. provincial park is that of a man who wandered away from a campsite in the early hours of New Year’s Day.
Officials say the body of the missing man was found in a lake in Golden Ears Provincial Park on Saturday, a day after Wade Bathurst, 39, disappeared. Family members have identified the body as belonging to Bathurst.
Bathurst had been camping with family and friends at Golden Ears Provincial Park, located in Maple Ridge, approximately 50 kilometres east of Vancouver.
He was last seen around 2:30 a.m. Friday after he left a campsite to make a phone call and then set off fireworks on a nearby beach, police said.
A canine unit was called to aid in the search Friday afternoon, and crews focused their efforts along the shoreline of Alouette Lake.
Search and rescue officials feared for the missing man’s safety due to conditions described as “well below freezing.”
