Drowning in Pointe-des-Cascades: the body of a man of 37 years retrieved

QMI AGENCY

QMI agency

Sunday, 23 July, 2017 08:36

UPDATE
Sunday, 23 July, 2017 08:42

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POINTE-DES-CASCADES | The body of a man of 37 years who had sunk in the locks of the canal of Soulanges, Saturday night, was found Sunday, around 13 h, at Pointe-des-Cascades, in Montérégie.

The bodies recovered had yet to be identified formally on Sunday in the early afternoon, “but everything leads us to believe that he is indeed the man disappeared,” said Daniel Thibaudeau, spokesman for the Sûreté du Québec (SQ).

In the morning, divers from the SQ had raked the area as early as 8: 30 a.m. to recover the body. Firefighters of the municipalities of Pointe-des-Cascades and Pincourt, as well as members of the canadian coast Guard, also participated in the research.

Area closed to swimming

The accident occurred at about 18: 30 then two men were swimming in an area closed to swimming.

“The man jumped into the water, and is never traced,” said Carl-Normand Houle, who has contacted the team of TVA News on Facebook.

According to Mr. Houle, the individual and his friend were doing jumps in a duo, in “the calm water, with almost no current”, when one of the two has asked for help.

Without waiting, seeing the man in distress, the boater ran and jumped in the water to help the friend of the bather in distress.

“His friend tried to catch him, but it was towards the bottom, and he had to let go,” said the witness, who was bathing with her friends in this sector.

“I tried to put it on for 20 minutes, but I’ve never found,” added the citizen, helpless. Even with diving goggles, Carl-Normand Houle could not find the swimmer disappeared.

“His friend didn’t seem to realize what had happened or even what was going on,” concluded the witness, still in shock, a few hours after the tragedy.

Not a first

“It is a privileged place for young people who are looking for a certain feeling, who love to jump here to the locks. We try to educate people about the dangers of the water course, which is not always easy. It is made of awareness, but the message doesn’t always work,” said the director of the Service de sécurité incendie de Pointe-des-Cascades, Christian Dumas, in an interview with TVA News.

This is not the first time that a person drowned in the canal at Pointe-des-Cascades. In particular, a young man 24 years of age had lost their lives on June 30, 2016 under the same circumstances