Area men save father, sons from power plant turbines

John Hopkins and Mark Theriault, both of Bear River, and Welsley Trimper of Gulliver’s helped rescue an Illinois man and his two sons after their canoe capsized June 12 near the Annapolis River tidal power plant.

“There was no thought involved, we just did it,” said Hopkins afterwards. The three men were inside working when the commotion started.

“I heard a thump in the machine and went around to see what the crash was,” he said. “Then Les Smith came in and told us there were people in the water.”

Smith had noticed the three hanging onto a buoy line after their canoe had floated with the current and was sucked through the sluice gate and crushed in the turbines.

Hopkins said Smith called 911, and Theriault turned off the turbines, while he and Trimper wondered how they could reach the victims in the water.

“Mark hollered to us he knew where there was a beat-up old boat that was destined for the scrap yard. He had just put it out there that morning,” said Hopkins.

The boat had no oars, so Hopkins and Trimper pulled themselves hand over hand along a boom cable until they reached the man and two boys and were able to pull them to safety.

Hopkins said he worried about the condition of the boys as they were pulled into the boat. Both looked as though they could be in shock.

“The little guy didn’t seem to be breathing,” he said. “I kind of gave him a shove—I don’t know if that helped—and he seemed to start breathing.”

The father and his two sons were taken to hospital for treatment of hypothermia, according to Const. James McKay of the Annapolis Royal police department.

“Those guys are heroes,” he said. “It was pretty serious. One of the boys…was in very bad shape.”