Bodies found by U.S. authorities searching for missing Canadian kayakers

By Todd Coyne

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    VANCOUVER, B.C. (CTV Network) — United States authorities who have been searching for a pair of missing kayakers from British Columbia since the weekend have recovered two bodies in the nearby San Juan Islands of Washington state.

San Juan County Sheriff Eric Peter says his office will not positively confirm the identities of the two males found as the missing kayakers “out of respect for the families.”

The first body was found around 3 p.m. Monday floating in the water against the rocks in Grandmas Cove on the southwest side of San Juan Island. The second body was recovered by sheriff’s deputies around 6:30 a.m. Tuesday in the waters of Middle Channel between San Juan Island and Lopez Island.

Both bodies have been handed over to the San Juan County coroner’s office. The agency could not confirm the identities of the deceased to CTV News on Tuesday.

Daniel MacAlpine, 36, and Nicholas West, 26, were travelling in a two-person kayak from one of B.C.’s southern Gulf Islands to a beach north of Victoria around 2:15 p.m. Saturday.

When the men failed to arrive, a search was launched and their kayak was found abandoned on the shoreline of Washington state’s Henry Island, approximately six kilometres from their anticipated departure point on D’Arcy Island.

Searchers on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border have been combing the waters in boats and helicopters, looking for the missing men since Sunday.

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