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Suicidal woman saved

Sooke RCMP help rescue a woman who wanted to drown herself

Sooke RCMP are credited with helping save the life of a distraught 42-year-old woman who was attempting to commit suicide on Monday night (September 16).

“She was intent on ending her life,” said Staff Sgt. Steve Wright.

At 9:25 p.m. four police officers responded to the call at Billings Spit by the woman’s partner. Two RCMP members went into the water with personal floatation devices in an attempt to keep up with woman and talk with her. The officers were in the water for 35 minutes with another on shore. They did manage to borrow a boat while they waited for the Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue to arrive. The woman continued to refuse help and swam further from shore.

The woman, said Wright, did not want to be rescued and one officer went back into the water and held on to her until she could be pulled from the water and onto a RCMSR boat.

“The water temperature was 11 degrees and the tide was flooding,” said Wright. The woman was 200 to 300 feet from shore and was becoming hypothermic. “She didn’t have much more time left, and good on the members who stayed with her. This is good news.”

The unnamed woman was taken out of the water by RCMSR and was transported to hospital under the Mental Health Act, where she remains. The officers were unharmed.