Six-year-old Girl dead, dad missing in boating tragedy north of Vancouver

The search for a missing North Vancouver father was called off Sunday, hours after the body of his six-year-old daughter was found off B.C.’s Sunshine Coast.

William Liebenberg, a North Vancouver dentist, was identified as the missing man by a family member who answered the phone at a residence under his name Sunday.

The young girl who search and rescuers found the day prior was Liebenberg’s daughter Maddy, she said. Police had said she was six, but the friend said that age was incorrect.

Brian Staines, reached at Lions Bay Marina, said he knew the missing man well.

“We all did. They were really nice people,” he said.

The father and his daughter departed the marina Saturday in a 21-foot aluminum commuter boat, but the boat did not return, he said.

Offshore, a hovercraft scanned the cool water for the missing man. Earlier in the day helicopters and a plane also looked for him.

“He was an amazing person. He did lots for people here,” said Staines, who was watching a hovercraft in the ongoing search for the missing man.

“And she was just like a little angel. They were inseparable.”

The family has a cabin on Gambier Island and used the marina often during summer months for the past seven or eight years, he said.

A land search for the missing man is also underway. Police say there’s no indication of foul play but that they aren’t ruling anything out.

Naval Lt. Paul Trenholm said the Coast Guard was dispatched after a fellow boater spotted an empty vessel adrift Saturday night.

Agencies/Canadajournal