Man drowns while swimming off boat in Howe Sound: police

A man has drowned while swimmingnear Keats Islandin B.C.'s Howe Sound after he chartereda boat with friends.

RCMP said officers were called to help retrieve a man "in medical distress" from the water off the northern tip of the island around 4 p.m. PT Sunday.

Police met paramedics at the government dock in nearby Gibsons, but the man was declared dead.

A statement from RCMP said the man was in his 40s and lived inRichmond, B.C. Police said he had been swimming for "a few minutes before he was found in distress."

Keats Island is a small islandoff the shoreofGibsons and directly west of Bowen Island.

The B.C. Coroners Service is investigating the man's death.