A security guard and police in Nanaimo are credited with rescuing a man who fell out of his boat Tuesday and was unable to pull himself out of the water.
The rescue happened shortly after 3 a.m. Tuesday when a Commissionaire working with the Nanaimo Port Authority was patrolling the Nanaimo Boat Basin and spotted a man flailing in the water near the Protection Island ferry dock.
The victim, a Protection Island resident, 38, was fully clothed and wearing a backpack and desperately trying to pull himself to safety.
The commissionaire pulled the man alongside the dock, but called 911 for help when he was unable to get the man out of the water.
Three Mounties responded and helped pull the man onto the dock, where paramedics treated him for mild hypothermia and took him to Nanaimo Regional General Hospital for further treatment before releasing him.
Police said the man was trying to return to Protection Island after a night out with friends, alcohol was a contributing factor and his personal flotation device failed to inflate when he fell overboard.