A senior died after friends pulled him from the Nanaimo River.
According to Nanaimo RCMP, the incident happened at about noon Tuesday when the 73-year-old man was swimming with friends upstream of the Duke Point Highway bridge near Wilkinson and Akenhead roads and he went into medical distress and became unresponsive.
His friends managed to pull him from the river and start cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
A motorcyclist passing by who witnessed the incident called 911 from a business nearby and also returned to help provide first aid.
North Cedar Volunteer Fire Department, B.C. Ambulance Service and Nanaimo RCMP responded to the scene and continued CPR for at least 20 minutes before the man was rushed to Nanaimo Regional General Hospital.
According to police, the victim later died in hospital.
An investigation into the incident is ongoing.
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