American couple renowned for finding drowning victims arrives in Vernon to search for missing kayaker
CTV
A retired husband and wife from Idaho who are renowned for finding the bodies of drowning victims when no one else can have arrived in Vernon to search for the body of Eli Buruca.
A retired husband and wife from Idaho who are renowned for finding the bodies of drowning victims when no one else can have arrived in Vernon to search for the body of Eli Buruca.
The 26-year-old went kayaking with friends on Kalamalka Lake the evening of July 24th and got separated from the group during a sudden storm. His kayak washed ashore, but Buruca remains missing and is presumed drowned.
“He was so young and so many things he wanted to do, now he won’t get to,” said Eli’s sister Nidia Buruca Majano, who has been staying in Vernon during the search for her brother. The siblings were born and raised in Vancouver and moved to Calgary several years ago. Eli was working a construction job in Vernon this spring and summer.
“Given how long it’s taking to find him, it hasn’t sunk in for me fully I would say. It’s been really hard on my parents. But we have been really lucky we had a support system throughout,” said Nidia. “We have family in Vancouver and Surrey who came out to be with us.”
When RCMP and search and rescue crews couldn’t locate Eli’s body, Nidia reached out to Gene and Sandy Ralston, an Idaho couple who are spending their retirement years travelling the US and Canada with their boat and high-tech sonar equipment, searching for drowning victims at the bottom of lakes.
“So they agreed to come up,” said Nidia. “We are very grateful. We have no other resources, no other options. We are not experts in any of this, we are doing what we can. So this is amazing that they agreed to come out and they’re going to help us.”
She said the Ralstons are the family’s last hope for finding Eli’s body. “They have the sonar, it’s a special sonar device that covers a wide area that does a big sweeping motion is my understanding, and they’re experts in being able to analyze the imaging,” she said.
