Crews are searching for a man whose skiff he was last seen using was found washed ashore on an island near Nanaimo.
Nanaimo RCMP says 35-year-old Ryan Pratt was reported missing by friends on Dec. 2. He lived on a sailboat, moored off of Hammond Bay.
Pratt was last seen around 4 p.m. on Dec. 1 using a small skiff to return to his sailboat. The skiff was found washed ashore, and a canoe that Pratt also used was found adrift.
RCMP West Coast Marine Services, Search and Rescue and Joint Rescue Coordination Centre have conducted an “extensive” search of the shoreline and water but have not found Pratt. He was also not found at the sailboat he lives on.
“What we know, Ryan was living on his boat, he was 35 years of age, and he went back and forth on his skiff or canoe. Both were found washed up and adrift,” Cst. Gary O’Brien of Nanaimo RCMP told CHEK News on Monday.
Very troubling, so of course we are scouring the shoreline, we are talking to people, we’re on the water. We’re hoping we will find him.”
Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to call Nanaimo RCMP at 250-754-2345.
Nanaimo RCMP provided this image of the sailboat that Ryan Pratt lives on. (Nanaimo RCMP handout image)
Laura Brougham
