‘It is a mystery’: Missing Nanaimo man sparks continued dive team searches and RCMP investigation

CHEK
WatchA mystery is building in Nanaimo's harbour after a local man vanished from a boat, initially suspected to have drowned, during a loud argument on April 11. Skye Ryan has more.

Lively fiddle music courtesy of busker John Hopkins and growing questions filled the air along Nanaimo’s harbour Sunday.

The reason for all those questions stems from the strange and sudden disappearance of a friendly fixture along the water — a 59-year-old man who worked at local boatyards for decades. The man — whose name has not been released — was last seen on his boat the Hona Moku, vanished without a trace during a heated argument with his wife on April 11.

“I think a drowning like that is always going to be suspicious I guess,” said Hopkins, a Nanaimo resident.

“It is a mystery. It’s unusual, that’s for sure,” said Steven Good, a Nanaimo resident who knew the missing man for years.

“He was a nice guy, he and his wife. They were characters and a lot of people knew them out there,” said Good.

RELATED: Man presumed drowned, woman found ‘clinging to life’ in Nanaimo harbour

Many around Nanaimo’s harbour watched the initial search that lit up the night sky on April 11, after Protection Island, prompting calls to the RCMP about a loud fight out on the water.

“There was yelling and screaming for about 45 minutes involving a woman and a man so we used our Port Authority vessel to get to that location, found her basically clinging for life. She was holding on to a sailboat in the water. She was extremely hypothermic and intoxicated as well,” Const. Gary O’Brien, media spokesperson with the Nanaimo RCMP, told CHEK News on April 12.

That woman, a 58-year-old, was rushed to hospital and survived, as an extensive search continued by boat, and helicopter above, for her husband. But no sign of him turned up.

RCMP aren’t ruling anything out and continue canvassing for witnesses to that night and searching the waters where the missing man was last seen.

Remarkably divers went into the waters off Saysutshun Island just Friday (April 29), looking for the missing man. Why, RCMP hasn’t revealed, since most apparent drownings are handed over to the coroner’s service within hours or days.

“They’ve been searching for him since it happened, that was what three weeks ago,” said Good.

Anyone with information on the incident is asked to call Nanaimo police at 250-754-2345 and quote file number 2022-12274.

RELATED Neighbours say fighting was regular before presumed drowning by Nanaimo

[email protected]

Skye RyanSkye Ryan

Recent Stories

Send us your news tips and videos!