Thieves crash $100,000 limo into lake

The RCMP say thieves likely sent a 20-passenger limousine bus off a cliff, plunging into Okanagan Lake early Sunday.

Police say the $100,000 bus owned by Sun Valley Limousine was stolen from Kelowna early Sunday morning, driven up Westside Road and steered down a rocky embankment before it came to rest submerged in shallow water.

The vehicle was spotted in the lake by a driver around 9 a.m. PT. RCMP divers sent to the site checked the bus interior but found no one inside.

"The lack of a body [shows] it's pretty definite it went over the bank without anybody in it," said RCMP Sgt. Brian Nightingale, a collision analyst. "Just putting it in drive and jumping out of the bus would be enough to put it over the edge."

Nightingale will analyze the on-board computer to find out how fast the 2,500-kg vehicle was moving before it went into the lake. The air-bag module in modern vehicles can give investigators five to 20 seconds worth of data before the air bags deploy.

The Sun Valley website said the F550 coach limousine is outfitted with a 42-inch plasma TV, has two metres of head room, stereo, speakers and a small dance floor.