Search continues for 2 Lower Mainland men missing after fishing trip near Kamloops

Members of the RCMP Underwater Recovery Team are helping in the search for two men last seen fishing on Stump Lake south of Kamloops Monday night.

Staff Sgt. Josh Roda, the commander of Merritt RCMP, says friends reached out early Tuesday when the men, who are both from the Lower Mainland, didn't come back.

"They had gone out fishing late in the evening and never returned. Friends went searching for them, couldn't find them and eventually called the RCMP.  We brought out police dog services, and so we completed an extensive groundwater and air search, looking for the fishermen," said Roda.

Volunteers with Kamloops Search and Rescue spent several hours Tuesday using drones and a helicopter to search the area.

Roda said police dogs were back Wednesday to help scour the shoreline.

"All we found was debris that we believed to have belonged to them floating near the north end of the lake. The boat has not been recovered, nor the fishermen. Unfortunately, the families are still trying to comprehend what's happened, and so we want to be as polite to them as we can be while they're going through this."

He adds that's why the names of the missing men have been withheld.

Roda is asking anyone finding more debris from the area to contact Merritt RCMP at 250-378-4262.

Stump Lake is located 40 kilometres south of Kamloops and 57 kilometres north of Merritt.