A man died in the Saint Lawrence River in the L’Ange-Gardien sector near Quebec on Saturday evening.
Local firefighters received a call just before 10pm relating to a person in distress on the riverbank along the Côte-de-Beaupré.
The 50-year-old, who was traveling alone on his personal watercraft, broke down and had to swim back to shore.
PHOTO GUY MARTEL-QMI AGENCY
“He asked the local area for help and then decided to return to his plane as the tide rose,” explains Sûreté du Québec (SQ) spokesman Stéphane Tremblay. He got into trouble and eventually drowned a few tens of meters from his boat.
PHOTO GUY MARTE-QMI AGENCY
The Coast Guard has been called to help search for the missing man underwater. He was found around 10:45 p.m. and pronounced dead shortly thereafter.
According to the SQ, the man was not wearing a life jacket when his body was recovered.
High tribute
This is the fifth drowning accident in Quebec in a few days. After the Lac-Saint-Jean event, four other events of the same type occurred on June 23 and 24.
On Friday evening, a 22-year-old young man sank in the waters of the Saint Lawrence River on Verdun Beach in Montreal. The twenty-year-old was outside the monitored bathing area.
During the night from Friday to Saturday, a 26-year-old man from Rouyn-Noranda went swimming in Lake Opasatica in Témiscamingue and never returned. His body was found the next day by divers off the Sûreté du Québec.
Another 29-year-old man sank to the bottom of Lac Beauchamp near Amos in Abitibi on Saturday. The latter would have fallen off his paddle board without a personal buoyancy aid.
This weekend’s massacre brought the number of drownings in Quebec to 35 in 2023. According to the Life Saving Society website, 24 people drowned on the same day last year.
Boating safety
The SQ conducted safety equipment inspections on the Saint Lawrence River in the Quebec City area on Sunday.
Sûreté patrol boats have criss-crossed the river’s waters to meet boaters and ensure they comply with regulations in force on the water.