Kayak spill puts two men into chilly Beaver Lake

Two young men are safe - cold and wet, but safe - after being rescued from the chilly waters of Beaver Lake after their kayak capsized on Saturday.
Around noon, local emergency crews were called to the Beaver Lake provincial campsite by a person walking along the shore who heard people calling for help from the waters about 400 feet from shore. As police, fire rescue, Parks and ambulance crews arrived at the campsite's eastern boat launch, dozens of campers on their May Long Weekend getaway watched the rescue unfold. Some of them took part in the rescue, using a boat that had been moored on the beach to race out to the kayakers.
With the winter's ice covering only coming off area's lakes a few days ahead of the weekend, fire crews acted quickly to get their own boat into the water as well.
Two young men were pulled from the water and brought back to shore. Neither man was wearing a lifejacket and it was not believed there were PFDs onboard at the time they capsized.
The men were examined by ambulance crews before returning to their campsite.
RCMP caution the public to be careful around the many water bodies in the region. It's a message police and emergency agencies repeat every year.
According to information from Canada's Lifesaving Society, accidental water-related deaths has decreased steadily over the past 20 years from an average of 2.0 per 100,000 population each year in the mid 90s to a yearly average of 1.4 per 100,000 population in the most recent data. Despite the decrease, there were a reported 466 accidental drowning deaths across Canada in 2013, the most recent documented yea.
This is the second time in a week that local emergency crews have been called out to rescue boaters spilled from capsized boats. A rescue of half a dozen visitors last Saturday from the icy waters of Lac La Biche lake saw all of the occupants pulled safely to shore. We've got that story in upcoming POST, in mailboxes and stands on Tuesday.